PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Elena Guerini-Rocco AU - Sergio Vincenzo Taormina AU - Davide Vacirca AU - Alberto Ranghiero AU - Alessandra Rappa AU - Caterina Fumagalli AU - Fausto Maffini AU - Cristiano Rampinelli AU - Domenico Galetta AU - Marta Tagliabue AU - Mohssen Ansarin AU - Massimo Barberis TI - SARS-CoV-2 detection in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from surgical resection of tongue squamous cell carcinoma AID - 10.1136/jclinpath-2020-206635 DP - 2020 Nov 01 TA - Journal of Clinical Pathology PG - 754--757 VI - 73 IP - 11 4099 - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/73/11/754.short 4100 - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/73/11/754.full SO - J Clin Pathol2020 Nov 01; 73 AB - In the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, pathologists can be exposed to infection handling surgical specimens. Guidelines related to safety procedures in the laboratory have been released. However, there is a lack of studies performed on biopsy and surgical resection specimens. Here we report the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples from surgical resection of tongue squamous cell carcinoma of a patient who developed COVID-19 postsurgery. RNA of SARS-CoV-2 strain was detected in the tumour and the normal submandibular gland samples using real-time PCR-based assay. No viral RNA was found in metastatic and reactive lymph nodes. We demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be detected in routine histopathological samples even before COVID-19 disease development. These findings may give important information on the possible sites of infection or virus reservoir, and highlight the necessity of proper handling and fixation before sample processing.