Emerging spectrum of COVID-19-related cardiopulmonary pathology in adults

Brian Hanley; Melanie Jensen; Michael Osborn

doi:10.1016/j.mpdhp.2021.05.002

Emerging spectrum of COVID-19-related cardiopulmonary pathology in adults

Diagn Histopathol (Oxf). 2021 Aug;27(8):317-324. doi: 10.1016/j.mpdhp.2021.05.002. Epub 2021 May 19.

Authors

Brian Hanley^{1

2

3}, Melanie Jensen^{1

2

3}, Michael Osborn^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ , ST4 Histopathology Registrar, Department of Cellular Pathology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Northwest London Pathology, London, UK. Conflicts of interest: none declared.
² , ST1 Histopathology Registrar, Department of Cellular Pathology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Northwest London Pathology, London, UK. Conflicts of interest: none declared.
³ , Consultant Histopathologist, Department of Cellular Pathology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Northwest London Pathology, London, UK. Conflicts of interest: none declared.

Abstract

COVID-19 is currently a major cause of morbidity and mortality in adults throughout the world. Given the high infection rate, it is increasingly likely that histopathologists will encounter this disease during their practice. Although COVID-19 is increasingly recognized as a multi-system disease, the lungs and, to a lesser degree, the heart remain the major sites of pathology. This article aims to acquaint the general histopathologist with the main pathological findings in the lungs and heart of adults with COVID-19. It highlights the need for clinicopathological correlation with a discussion of the cardiopulmonary clinical features in COVID-19 and relates those to the pathological findings. In the lungs, diffuse alveolar damage is emphasized with its variety of morphological appearances over time. It concludes with a discussion of the main techniques available to identify the virus in fixed tissues and their potential limitations related specifically to the heart and lungs.

Keywords: SARS; SARS-CoV-2; autopsy; cardiac; coronavirus 2; heart; histology; histopathology; lungs; microscopy; post-mortem; pulmonary.

Publication types

Review