Table 6.

Clinical and pathologic findings of seven severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients undergoing postmortem examination

Case number	Gender/age	SARS confirmed by polymerase chain reaction	Kidney confirmed by light microscopy	Benign nephrosclerosis	Viral particles by electron microscopy	Autolysis	Plasma creatinine at presentation μmol/L	Plasma creatinine at the time of death μmol/L	Postmortem cause of death
1	M/69	Yes	Moderate acute tubular necrosis	+	Not detected	Yes	100	258	Diffuse alveolar damage
2	M/64	Yes	Moderate acute tubular necrosis	+	Not detected	Yes	88	209	Diffuse alveolar damage
3a	M/76	Yes	Severe acute tubular necrosis	+	Not detected	Yes	153	179	Diffuse alveolar damage
4	F/81	Yes	Mild acute tubular necrosis	+	Not detected	Minimal	107	131	Diffuse alveolar damage
5	M/44	Yes	Severe acute tubular necrosis	-	not detected	yes	107	315	Diffuse alveolar damage
6	M/79	Yes	Moderate acute tubular necrosis	+	not detected	yes	179	238	Diffuse alveolar damage
7	F/91	Yes	Minimal	+	not detected	yes	75	97	Diffuse alveolar damage

^aHeavy abnormal myeloid infiltrate in the kidney (the patient had history of myelodysplastic syndrome).