Importance, personal protective equipment, and our experience after first autopsies performed on COVID-positive deceased in Novi Sad, Serbia

Abstract

Introduction/Objective Autopsy represents the gold standard for determining cause and mechanisms of death. With this paper, the authors wanted to acquaint colleagues with our experiences while performing autopsies of COVID-positive deceased patients.

Method The study included total of 12 autopsies related to COVID-19 infection, performed in our forensic pathology institution, from which one autopsy of suspected patient and 11 autopsies of confirmed COVID-positive patients. Confirmation of infection was obtained by antemortem polymerase chain reaction analysis of oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs and by postmortem swabs taken from upper airways and lungs.

Results In five cases, cause of death was directly attributed to COVID-19 infection. In two cases cause of death was due to heart attack, in two cases due to gastrointestinal hemorrhage, in one case due to multiple injuries, in one case due to trauma complications and in one case due to gunshot injury.

Conclusion Large number of autopsies in which cause of death has been established to be other than COVID, along with importance of these cases for litigation, strongly emphasizes the importance of forensic autopsy of COVID-positive deceased. If adequate personal protective equipment is used, there should be minimal exposure risk to virus remaining in body tissues.

Keywords: COVID-19; autopsy; PPE; cause of death