COVID-19: Detection Methods in Post-mortem Samples

Overview

Journal Pathologica

Specialty Pathology

Date 2023 Dec 6

PMID 38054901

Authors

Ilaria Tedesco

Federica Zito Marino

Andrea Ronchi

Amaro Nunes Duarte Neto

Marisa Dolhnikoff

Maurizio Municino

Carlo Pietro Campobasso

Giuseppe Pannone

Renato Franco

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

COVID-19 identification is routinely performed on fresh samples, such as nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs, even if, the detection of the virus in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) autopsy tissues could help to underlie mechanisms of the pathogenesis that are not well understood. The gold standard for COVID-19 detection in FFPE samples remains the qRT-PCR as in swab samples, contextually other methods have been developed, including immunohistochemistry (IHC), and in situ hybridization (ISH). In this manuscript, we summarize the main data regarding the methods of COVID-19 detection in pulmonary and extra-pulmonary post-mortem samples, and especially the sensitivity and specificity of these assays will be discussed.

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