RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Histopathological observations in COVID-19: a systematic review
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP jclinpath-2020-206995
DO 10.1136/jclinpath-2020-206995
A1 Vishwajit Deshmukh
A1 Rohini Motwani
A1 Ashutosh Kumar
A1 Chiman Kumari
A1 Khursheed Raza
YR 2020
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/early/2020/08/18/jclinpath-2020-206995.abstract
AB Background Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has caused a great global threat to public health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 disease as a pandemic, affecting the human respiratory and other body systems, which urgently demands for better understanding of COVID-19 histopathogenesis.Objective Data on pathological changes in different organs are still scarce, thus we aim to review and summarise the latest histopathological changes in different organs observed after autopsy of COVID-19 cases.Materials and methods Over the period of 3 months, authors performed vast review of the articles. The search engines included were PubMed, Medline (EBSCO & Ovid), Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus and Bio-Medical. Search terms used were ‘Histopathology in COVID-19’, ‘COVID-19’, ‘Pathological changes in different organs in COVID-19’ or ‘SARS-CoV-2’. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2009 guidelines were used for review writing.Result We identified various articles related to the histopathology of various organs in COVID-19 positive patients. Overall, 45 articles were identified as full articles to be included in our study. Histopathological findings observed are summarised according to the systems involved.Conclusion Although COVID-19 mainly affects respiratory and immune systems, but other systems like cardiovascular, urinary, gastrointestinal tract, reproductive system, nervous system and integumentary system are not spared, especially in elderly cases and those with comorbidity. This review would help clinicians and researchers to understand the tissue pathology, which can help in better planning of the management and avoiding future risks.