RESUMEN
Background-The sharp uptick in the cases of mucormycosis in the background of the COVID19 pandemic is a cause of concern and the reasons and it’s impact remains to be seen. We studied the clinical characteristics in patients with mucormycosis and COVID19 co-infection and performed a literature review.Methods-This retrospective study was conducted at tertiary centre in India. All patients admitted with COVID19 and mucormycosis were included, clinical details were obtained from hospital records. We did review of literatures using the terms “SARS-CoV2” OR “COVID19” AND “Mucormycosis” AND “co-infection” on Pubmed published before February 20, 2021.Results-Sixteen cases (M:F–13:3), mean age 46·5 years (24-75years), were included. Fourteen had known risk factors for mucormycosis, the most common being diabetes mellitus. Most patients (n=14) were symptomatic with mucormycosis before diagnosis of COVID19. There was delay in surgery by 22.5 days (IQR–>17.75–29.5), pending SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR negativity. There were six deaths in this cohort, unrelated to the COVID19 severity. The literature review revealed eleven case reports on co-infection. Patients who had developed mucormycosis were found to have history of mechanical ventilation.Conclusion-The apparent increase in the incidence of mucormycosis may be due to decompensation of underlying comorbidities (decreased access to healthcare), and increased use of immunosuppressants in COVID19. Patients with co-infection were noted to have poorer outcomes.
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COVID-19RESUMEN
Background: The Covid-19 pandemic began in China in December 2019. India is the second most affected country, as of November 2020 with more than a 8.5million cases. Covid-19 infection primarily involves the lung with the severity of illness varying from influenza-like illness to acute respiratory distress syndrome. Other organs have also found to be variably affected. Studies evaluating the histopathological changes of Covid-19 are critical in providing a better understanding of the disease pathophysiology and guiding treatment. Minimally invasive biopsy techniques (MITS/B) provide an easy and suitable alternative to complete autopsies. In this prospective single-center study we present the histopathological examination of 37 patients who died with complications of Covid-19. Methods: This was an observational study conducted in the Intensive Care Unit of JPN Trauma Centre AIIMS. A total of 37 patients who died of Covid-19 were enrolled in the study. Post-mortem percutaneous biopsies were taken with the help of surface landmarking/ultrasonography guidance from lung, heart, liver, and kidneys; after obtaining ethical consent. The biopsy samples were then stained with haematoxylin and eosin stain. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed using CD61 and CD163 in all lung cores. SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected using IHC with primary antibodies in selected samples. Details regarding demographics, clinical parameters, hospital course, treatment details, and laboratory investigations were also collected for clinical correlation. Results: A total of 37 patients underwent post-mortem minimally invasive tissue sampling. Mean age of the patients was 48.7years and 59.5% of them were males. Respiratory failure was the most common complication seen in 97.3%. Lung histopathology showed acute lung injury and diffuse alveolar damage in 78% of patients. Associated bronchopneumonia was seen in 37.5% of patients and scattered microthrombi were visualized in 21% of patients. Immunostaining with CD61 and CD163 highlighted megakaryocytes and increased macrophages in all samples. Immunopositivity for SARS-CoV-2 was observed in Type II pneumocytes. Acute tubular injury with epithelial vacuolization was seen in 46% of the renal biopsies but none of them showed evidence of microvascular thrombosis. 71% of the liver tissue cores showed evidence of Kupfer cell hyperplasia. 27.5% had evidence of submassive hepatic necrosis and 14% had features of acute on chronic liver failure. All the heart biopsies showed non-specific features such as hypertrophy with nucleomegaly with no evidence of myocardial necrosis in any of the samples. Conclusions The most common finding in this cohort is the diffuse alveolar damage with demonstration of SARS-CoV-2 protein in the acute phase of DAD. Microvascular thrombi were rarely identified in the lung, liver and kidney. Substantial hepatocyte necrosis, hepatocyte degeneration, Kupffer cell hypertrophy, micro, and macrovesicular steatosis unrelated to microvascular thrombi suggests that liver might be a primary target of Covid-19. This study highlights the importance of MITS/B in better understanding the pathological changes associated with Covid-19.