COVID-19 and pathology: What do we know?

Abstract

The experience of recent months in the study of the pathology associated with COVID-19 infection is showing histological alterations similar to other infections associated with previous pandemics, such as diffuse alveolar damage, signs of endotheliitis, inflammatory infiltrates and fibrin microthrombi. In the samples of patients with COVID-19, a greater number of cases with signs of endothelitis and a greater number of microthrombi stand out, both at the level of the lung parenchyma and in other locations, such as the colon, myocardium, liver … The study of the biopsies of patients who have overcome the acute phases of COVID is showing the presence of interstitial inflammatory infiltrates at the lung level and areas of fibrosis, and various factors that may predict the greater or lesser probability of the development of fibrosis are being studied pulmonary in such patients.