tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Radiol Med
. 2022 Feb 28.
doi: 10.1007/s11547-022-01457-w. Online ahead of print.
Potentials of post-mortem CT investigations during SARS-COV-2 pandemic: a narrative review
Laura Filograna[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Guglielmo Manenti[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Garyfalia Ampanozi[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Antonello Calcagni[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Colleen Patricia Ryan[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Roberto Floris[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michael John Thali[SUP] 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
In December 2019, a new coronavirus, SARS-COV-2, caused a cluster of cases of pneumonia in China, and rapidly spread across the globe. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11th, 2020. Virtual autopsy by post-mortem CT (PMCT) and its ancillary techniques are currently applied in post-mortem examinations as minimally or non-invasive techniques with promising results. In this narrative review, we speculate on the potentials of PMCT and its ancillary techniques, as a viable investigation technique for analysis of suspected or confirmed SARS-COV-2 deaths. An online literature search was performed by using three prefix search terms (postmortem, post-mortem, post mortem) individually combined with the suffix radiology, imaging, computed tomography, CT and with the search terms 'SARS-CoV-2' and 'COVID-19' to identify papers about PMCT and its ancillary techniques in SARS-COV-2 positive cadavers. PMCT findings suggestive for pulmonary COVID-19 in deceased positive SARS-COV-2 infection are reported in the literature. PMCT ancillary techniques were never applied in such cases. PMCT imaging of the lungs has been proposed as a pre-autopsy screening method for SARS-COV-2 infection. Further studies are needed to ascertain the value of PMCT in determining COVID-19 as the cause of death without autopsy histopathological confirmation. We advocate the application of PMCT techniques in the study of ascertained or suspected SARS-COV-2 infected deceased individuals as a screening technique and as a method of post-mortem investigation, to augment the numbers of case examined and significantly reducing infection risk for the operators.
Keywords: COVID-19 CT findings; Infection risk reduction; Post-mortem CT; Sars-Cov-2; Virtual autopsy.
. 2022 Feb 28.
doi: 10.1007/s11547-022-01457-w. Online ahead of print.
Potentials of post-mortem CT investigations during SARS-COV-2 pandemic: a narrative review
Laura Filograna[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Guglielmo Manenti[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Garyfalia Ampanozi[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Antonello Calcagni[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Colleen Patricia Ryan[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Roberto Floris[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michael John Thali[SUP] 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35226246
- DOI: 10.1007/s11547-022-01457-w
Abstract
In December 2019, a new coronavirus, SARS-COV-2, caused a cluster of cases of pneumonia in China, and rapidly spread across the globe. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11th, 2020. Virtual autopsy by post-mortem CT (PMCT) and its ancillary techniques are currently applied in post-mortem examinations as minimally or non-invasive techniques with promising results. In this narrative review, we speculate on the potentials of PMCT and its ancillary techniques, as a viable investigation technique for analysis of suspected or confirmed SARS-COV-2 deaths. An online literature search was performed by using three prefix search terms (postmortem, post-mortem, post mortem) individually combined with the suffix radiology, imaging, computed tomography, CT and with the search terms 'SARS-CoV-2' and 'COVID-19' to identify papers about PMCT and its ancillary techniques in SARS-COV-2 positive cadavers. PMCT findings suggestive for pulmonary COVID-19 in deceased positive SARS-COV-2 infection are reported in the literature. PMCT ancillary techniques were never applied in such cases. PMCT imaging of the lungs has been proposed as a pre-autopsy screening method for SARS-COV-2 infection. Further studies are needed to ascertain the value of PMCT in determining COVID-19 as the cause of death without autopsy histopathological confirmation. We advocate the application of PMCT techniques in the study of ascertained or suspected SARS-COV-2 infected deceased individuals as a screening technique and as a method of post-mortem investigation, to augment the numbers of case examined and significantly reducing infection risk for the operators.
Keywords: COVID-19 CT findings; Infection risk reduction; Post-mortem CT; Sars-Cov-2; Virtual autopsy.