Is it COVID-19? The value of medicolegal autopsies during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: We describe the experience of a busy metropolitan medical examiner's office in the United States and share our navigation of the COVID-19 autopsy decision-making process. We describe key gross and microscopic findings that, with appropriate laboratory testing, should direct a pathologist towards a COVID-19-related cause of death. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of 258 suspected and/or confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths that occurred between March 5, 2020, and March 4, 2021. RESULTS: A total of 62 cases due to fatal COVID-19 were identified; autopsy findings included diffuse alveolar damage, acute bronchopneumonia and lobar pneumonia, and pulmonary thromboemboli. Nine additional decedents had a nasopharyngeal swab positive for SARS-CoV-2 and a cause of death unrelated to COVID-19. Forty-seven cases with COVID-19-like symptoms showed no laboratory or histopathologic evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection; the most common causes of death in this group were hypertensive or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, complications of chronic alcoholism, and pulmonary thromboemboli unrelated to infection. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical findings associated with COVID-19 are not specific; a broad differential diagnosis should be embraced when decedents present with cough or shortness of breath. An autopsy may be indicated to identify a cause of death unrelated to COVID-19.

Unusual presentation of anaplastic large cell lymphoma with clinical course mimicking fever of unknown origin and sepsis: autopsy study of five cases.

AIM: To describe a subset of cases with the unusual clinical and histomorphological presentation of anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) mimicking fever of unknown origin (FUO) and sepsis. METHODS: A pathology database was searched using full term Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine codes for ALCL to identify 23ALCL cases from the period 1999-2006. Of those, five cases that did not have a correct premortem diagnosis were further analyzed to elucidate the reasons for delayed and incorrect pre-mortem diagnosis. The analyzed data included clinical presentation, duration of symptoms, duration of hospital stay, premortem presumed cause of death, white blood cell count, platelet count, anion gap and blood pH, liver enzymes (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase), lactate, coagulation tests (prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen, D-dimers), microbiology cultures, and radiology and surgical pathology reports. Autopsy reports were reviewed for description of major gross findings, initial clinical diagnosis, and cause of death. RESULTS: Five fatal and pre-mortem unrecognized ALCL cases were characterized by rapid decline, with histologic findings showing predominantly extranodal involvement, intravascular lymphomatosis, and hemophagocytosis. The cases were also characterized by unusual clinical manifestations including a FUO, sepsis, and disseminated intravascular coagulation-like picture, lactic acidosis, hepatosplenomegaly, and absence of significant peripheral adenopathy. CONCLUSIONS: There is a distinct group of ALCLs with unique and specific clinical, gross autopsy, and histopathologic findings. Recognition of this clinical variant may facilitate early detection and potentially timely diagnosis and therapy.

Combined pathological effects of cocaine abuse and HIV infection on the cardiovascular system: an autopsy study of 187 cases from the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office.

This autopsy study evaluates the possible cumulative effects of cocaine use in HIV-infected adult individuals on cardiovascular tissue. A total of 187 autopsy case reports and available H&E sections of myocardium and coronary arteries were reviewed. Four major study groups were defined: (A) a total of 63 cases positive for cocaine and negative for HIV (COC); (B) 40 cases positive for HIV/AIDS and negative for cocaine (HIV), (C) 23 cases both HIV/AIDS and cocaine (HIV/COC), and (D) a control group of 61 age-, sex- and race-matched, negative for cocaine and for HIV (CONT). The following morphologic and demographic data were analyzed: heart weight, left ventricular hypertrophy, myocardial fibrosis, thickening of the intramyocardial vessels, myocarditis, acute or remote myocardial infarcts (MI), age, sex, and race. Increased frequency of coronary wall and adventitial infiltrates, myocarditis, and thickened intramyocardial vessels present in HIV/COC group (14.5%, 17.4%, and 17.4% vs. 6.5%, 3.3%, and 0% in CONT group) may indicate possible combined and/or cumulative effects of HIV and cocaine on cardiovascular pathology.

Fine-needle aspiration cytologic diagnosis of metastatic melanotic schwannoma: familial case of a mother and daughter with Carney's complex and literature review.

Carney's complex is an autosomal dominant, multisystem tumorous disorder that includes myxomas, spotty skin pigmentation, endocrine tumors, and peripheral nerve tumors. Psammomatous melanotic schwannomas have recently been included as a part of this complex. Here, we describe the first known familial case of a mother and daughter, both presenting with malignant, already metastatic, pigmented schwannomas initially diagnosed as metastatic melanoma by CT guided fine-needle aspiration. Patients with highly pigmented, extra-cutaneous lesions that are clinically and pathologically suspicious for metastatic malignant melanoma, without known primary tumor, should be evaluated for possible Carney's complex. Additional screening of family members should be recommended to exclude the presence of potentially malignant neoplasms, such as psammomatous melanotic schwannomas.

Inhibition of progenitor dendritic cell maturation by plasma from patients with peripartum cardiomyopathy: role in pregnancy-associated heart disease.

Dendritic cells (DCs) play dual roles in innate and adaptive immunity based on their functional maturity, and both innate and adaptive immune responses have been implicated in myocardial tissue remodeling associated with cardiomyopathies. Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare disorder which affects women within one month antepartum to five months postpartum. A high occurrence of PPCM in central Haiti (1 in 300 live births) provided the unique opportunity to study the relationship of immune activation and DC maturation to the etiology of this disorder. Plasma samples from two groups (n = 12) of age- and parity-matched Haitian women with or without evidence of PPCM were tested for levels of biomarkers of cardiac tissue remodeling and immune activation. Significantly elevated levels of GM-CSF, endothelin-1, proBNP and CRP and decreased levels of TGF-beta were measured in PPCM subjects relative to controls. Yet despite these findings, in vitro maturation of normal human cord blood derived progenitor dendritic cells (CBDCs) was significantly reduced (p < 0.001) in the presence of plasma from PPCM patients relative to plasma from post-partum control subjects as determined by expression of CD80, CD86, CD83, CCR7, MHC class II and the ability of these matured CBDCs to induce allo-responses in PBMCs. These results represent the first findings linking inhibition of DC maturation to the dysregulation of normal physiologic cardiac tissue remodeling during pregnancy and the pathogenesis of PPCM.

Primary small bowel carcinoid tumor with bilateral breast metastases: report of 2 cases with different clinical presentations.

CONTEXT: Carcinoid tumor metastatic to the breast is uncommon and can closely mimic a mammary carcinoma. The differentiation of metastatic carcinoid tumor from primary breast tumor is important, however, owing to different clinical management and prognosis. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe 2 patients with bilateral metastatic carcinoid tumors to the breast with different clinical manifestations. DESIGN: We examined the radiological, clinical, cytologic, histologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural features of these 2 cases. RESULTS: In case 1, the tumor presented initially as a stellate mass on mammogram and was diagnosed as grade II infiltrating ductal carcinoma. It was only after the discovery of small intestinal, liver, ovarian, and contralateral breast masses, as well as careful morphologic and immunohistochemical evaluations, that the true nature of the tumor was realized. In case 2, the tumor initially presented as a small intestinal tumor with liver metastases and bilateral breast masses. The breast masses were diagnosed accurately as metastatic carcinoid tumor by morphologic and immunohistochemical evaluations. CONCLUSIONS: Metastatic carcinoid tumor to the breast is uncommon, but poses a diagnostic challenge in that morphologically it can closely mimic a primary breast tumor. Careful attention to clinical features and the use of auxiliary immunohistochemical studies can help in arriving at the correct diagnosis.

Fatal West Nile virus encephalitis in a renal transplant recipient.

West Nile virus (WNV), a mosquito-transmitted single-stranded RNA flavivirus, causes human disease of variable severity. We report clinical and pathologic findings of fatal encephalitis from the transmission of WNV from an organ donor to a kidney transplant recipient. The patient developed a febrile illness 18 days after transplantation, which progressed to encephalitis. Postmortem examination demonstrated extensive viral encephalopathic changes. Immunohistochemical studies highlighted WNV antigens within neurons, especially in the cerebellum and brainstem. Flavivirus virions were detected ultrastructurally within the cerebellum, and WNV was isolated from the brain and the brainstem. Thus, this case demonstrates the first death in the first solid organ transplant-associated transmission of WNV. Immunosuppression of the transplant recipient might have been responsible for the fulminant viral effects. The pathologic diagnosis helped guide subsequent epidemiologic and laboratory studies.