Materials and Methods

Informed consent and IRB approval was obtained for the decedent study. The lungs and blood specimen were collected from the Marion County Coroner’s Office and a private funeral home. The cases that were collected were called COVID-19 suspicious based on the medical forensic coroner’s decision at the scene of death. The blood was drawn from the heart using an autopsy needle and sent to the Indiana Department of Health Laboratories using the RT-PCR that was approved by the FDA and CDC.

Next, a four centimeter incision was made in the chest between the 4th and 5th ribs on the right side. A section of lung approximately 3cm by 2cm was removed and placed in 10% NBF.

The lung samples were fixed in 10% NBF for 48 hours. Five to ten tissue cassettes were prepared for each case. The tissues were transferred to 70% ethanol, processed into a paraffin block, microtomed at 5 microns, and stained with H&E and Masson’s Trichrome stains.