ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Autopsy study has been considered the gold standard method for studying the effects of any disease on the body. Since COVID-19 is a novel disease, autopsy is crucial to understand its pathophysiology. This study was conducted to analyze the microscopic and macroscopic findings of various organs in COVID-19 and to associate those findings with clinical observations and laboratory findings. Methods: Conventional invasive autopsies were performed on 33 patients with COVID-19 from September 7, 2020 to December 23, 2020. All the organs were removed by routine dissection techniques and preserved in 10 per cent formalin. The tissues were processed and stained according to standard practices using haematoxylin-eosin (H & E) and periodic acid-schiff (PAS) stain. Results: The study included 28 males and 5 females with a median age of 61 yr (range 30-90 yr). Massive pulmonary oedema and thrombi in the lungs were the characteristic features macroscopically. On microscopic examination, diffuse alveolar damage in the exudative/proliferative phase was found in 29 (87.88%) cases. Among the other notable microscopic findings were bronchopneumonia and lung abscesses due to secondary bacterial infection (n=17, 51.52%), acute tubular injury (n=21, 63.64%) and thrombi in the lungs, heart, and kidneys. Interpretation & conclusions: COVID-19 primarily affected the respiratory and the renal systems in the vast majority of severely affected patients in our study. We also found signs of hypercoagulability, as evidenced by widespread thrombi in multiple organs, along with a raised d-dimer level and a hyperinflammatory state manifested by elevated inflammatory markers. Our autopsy findings and altered laboratory investigations support
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication in patients with nephrotic syndrome (NS), and it is reported in 34% of adults with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome. Emergence of AKI in the course of nephrotic syndrome requires a prompt differential diagnosis between acute tubular necrosis (ATN) and proliferative glomerular lesions leading to rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. Although clinical and conventional laboratory clues can be decisive in many cases, sometimes such distinctions rely on renal biopsy, which is an invasive procedure and is not available in many centers. Several new biomarkers have emerged, increasing the perspective on early diagnosis and the prognostic prediction of AKI. OBJECTIVES: In this work, we studied the use of tests based on the urinary concentrations of kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1)...
INTRODUÇÃO: A lesão renal aguda (LRA) é uma complicação frequente em pacientes com glomerulopatias, acomentendo até 34% dos adultos com síndrome nefrótica (SNO) idiopática. O diagnóstico diferencial de necrose tubular aguda (NTA) de glomeulonefrite proliferativa ou crescêntica em pacientes com SNO e LRA é fundamental, visto que a NTA pode mimetizar quadro de glomerulonefrite rapidamente progressiva. Dados clínicos e laboratoriais podem ser úteis no diagnóstico diferencial da LRA na SNO, entretanto a distinção entre NTA e glomerulonefrite proliferativa ou crescêntica é feito pela biópsia renal, procedimento invasivo e que não está disponível amplamente. Novos biomarcadores para diagnóstico precoce e preditores diagnósticos na LRA têm sido identificados. OBJETIVOS: Neste trabalho nós avaliamos o uso de testes baseados nas concentrações urinárias de kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1)...