Published in:
01-03-2022 | Autopsy | Letter to the Editor
Regarding “Post-mortem CT lung findings at a medicolegal institute in SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive cases with autopsy correlation”
Authors:
Fabio De-Giorgio, Eva Bergamin, Francesca Cittadini, Alessandro Cina, Giuseppe Vetrugno
Published in:
Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology
|
Issue 1/2022
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Excerpt
With considerable interest, we read the article by O’Donnell et al. [
1]. The article confirms our previous assumption [
2] that the sole use of postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) should not be recommended as a tool for determining the cause of death of COVID-19 patients [
1]. In this regard, we would like to share with the readers the case of a 42-year-old woman who died of complications of COVID-19 viral infection. We had the opportunity to examine the body by using two total-body CT scans that were performed prior to the autopsy; the first exam was performed perimortem, whereas the second exam was performed at a PMI of > 72 h. This allowed us to highlight the limitations of PMCT in terms of COVID-19 diagnosis. …