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In March, the German Robert Koch Institute recommended avoiding autopsies on patients who died from the new coronavirus. The reason: pathologists and other medical personnel are at high risk of contracting autopsy (opening corpses). The German Union of Pathologists, however, was skeptical of the recommendation, saying that as many autopsies should be performed as the results could be useful in developing new therapies for the treatment of Covid-19.
What are the results of the autopsies in Basel?
In Switzerland, several hospitals are already performing autopsies on patients with Covid-19, said Zützdeich Zeitung. “Depending on the equipment and courage of the pathologists,” said Professor Alexander Tsankov, who heads the autopsy department at the Basel University Hospital. There have been autopsies of 20 patients with the new coronavirus so far. “They all had high blood pressure. Most were overweight,” says the professor. He added that they were mainly men. “More than two thirds of the coronary arteries were damaged and one third had diabetes,” added the pathologist.
In addition to their previous illnesses, Tsankov’s team also examined the victims’ lungs. “Only a small proportion had lung inflammation. Most showed severe damage to the microcirculation in the lungs.” This means that oxygen exchange no longer works and this explains the difficulty of breathing in patients in intensive care units, the professor said.
“In these patients, oxygen simply isn’t transported properly. As much as oxygen is released, it doesn’t help.” It is still unclear whether this new knowledge is already being applied to the treatment of patients with Covid-19.
Meanwhile, Robert Koch has canceled his recommendation not to have an autopsy. Earlier in Hamburg, however, pathologist Klaus Psychel had autopsies on 65 people who died from the new coronavirus. The results report was sent to the Hamburg health authorities. It also has the Zuidweit Zeitung, the VDR, and the RDA. Meanwhile, autopsies were performed in Hamburg on more than 100 Covid-19 patients and all had previous illnesses, the professor said. Nowhere else have autopsies been performed on so many patients in Germany.
Is there something new about autopsies in Hamburg?
Some of the results in the Hamburg report are similar to the Basel conclusions: for example, most victims suffered from heart disease. 55 of 61 autopsies had atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, heart attack, or other heart disease. 46 of the autopsies had previous lung disease. 28 had kidney, liver or transplant problems. 16 had dementia, others had at least one cancer, were overweight, or had diabetes.
Italy recently published a report with information on 1,738 victims. But not from the autopsies, but from the treatment period. Very often, patients suffered from high blood, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
And the reason for the death of these people was really the new Covid-19 disease? To this question, Hamburg pathologist Klaus Psychel replies that 65 patients, out of a total of 61 patients, underwent autopsy due to a coronavirus. In the other four, the virus was not the cause of death.
Professor Alexander Tsankov from Basel emphasizes that people with previous illnesses probably live less. “But if these people hadn’t contracted Covid-19, they would have been living for another hour, day, week, or year.”
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