A Japanese case of COVID‐19: An autopsy report

A 93‐year‐old woman was admitted with a 10‐day history of cough and prostration. Thoracic computed tomography revealed extensive ground‐glass opacities in both the lungs. The polymerase chain reaction test of sputum for severe acute respiratory syndrome‐coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) was positive. She w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pathology international 2020-10, Vol.70 (10), p.820-824
Main Authors: Okudela, Koji, Hayashi, Hiroyuki, Yoshimura, Yukihiro, Sasaki, Hiroaki, Horiuchi, Hiroshi, Miyata, Nobuyuki, Tachikawa, Natsuo, Tsuchiya, Yuki, Mitsui, Hideaki, Ohashi, Kenichi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged, 80 and over
Alveoli
Antiviral agents
Autopsies
Autopsy
Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification
Case Report
Case Reports
Clinical Laboratory Techniques
Computed tomography
Coronaviridae
Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis
Coronavirus Infections - pathology
Coronavirus Infections - therapy
Coronaviruses
Cough
COVID-19
COVID-19 Testing
diffuse alveolar damage
Fatal Outcome
Female
Humans
Infectious diseases
Japan
Japanese case
Lungs
Organs
Oxygen content
Pandemics
Pneumocytes
Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis
Pneumonia, Viral - pathology
Pneumonia, Viral - therapy
Polymerase chain reaction
SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Sputum
Steroids
Thorax
Viral diseases
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Summary:A 93‐year‐old woman was admitted with a 10‐day history of cough and prostration. Thoracic computed tomography revealed extensive ground‐glass opacities in both the lungs. The polymerase chain reaction test of sputum for severe acute respiratory syndrome‐coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) was positive. She was treated with antiviral agents and steroid pulse therapy. However, her oxygen saturation gradually declined, and she died 10 days after hospitalization. The most important autopsy finding was fuzzily segmented diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) that expanded from the subpleural to the medial area. No remarkable changes were observed in organs other than the lungs. Therefore, pneumocytes were suggested as the primary target for SARS‐CoV‐2, which might explain why coronavirus infectious disease‐19 is a serious condition. Thus, early treatment is essential to prevent viral replication from reaching a level that triggers DAD.
ISSN:1320-5463
1440-1827
1440-1827
DOI:10.1111/pin.13002