TABLE 3.
Main data on liver findings associated with COVID-19 deaths reported in analyzed articles.
| Author(s) | Sample | Gross examination | Microscopic finding(s) | Immunoistochemistry | Post-mortem molecular test | Other(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lacy et al. (2020) | 1 (F, 58 years) | Unrelevant | Mild steatosis, central lobular pallor and congestion | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| Menter et al. (2020) | 21 (4 F; 17 M; 53–96 years)) | N.A. | Steatosis (7/17), shock necrosis (5/17), alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH)/Non-ASH (3/17) | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| Lax et al. (2020) | 11 (8 m; 3 F; 66–91 years) | Steatosis (11/11) | Steatosis (11/11), chronic congestion (8/11), hepatocyte necrosis (7/11), kupffer cell proliferation (10/10), cholestasis (8/11), fibrosis (6/11), lymphocytic infiltrate (8/11), ductular proliferation (8/11) | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| Oprinca and Muja (2020) | 2 (1 F 79; 1 M 70 years) | Hepatomegaly | Vascular congestion, macro-vesicular steatosis, mild to moderate lymphocytic infiltrate | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| Remmelink et al. (2020) | 17 (12 M, 5 F; 62–77 years) | Hepatomegaly (5/17) | Congestive hepatopathy (7/17), liver cirrhosis (2/17), hepatic steatosis (10/17) | N.A. | RT-PCR (positive 11/16) | N.A. |
| Nunes Duarte-Neto et al. (2020) | 10 (5 F; 5 M; 33–83 years) | N.A. (biopsy) | Steatosis (6/10), portal tract inflammatory infiltrate (9/10), centrilobular congestion (10/10), ischemic necrosis (3/10), kupffer cell hypertrophy (5/10) and hemophagocytosis (3/10) | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| Hanley et al. (2020a) | 10 (7 M, 3 F; 73 years median age) thereof 1 MIA biopsy | Hepatomegaly (3/9), liver infarction (1/9) | Cirrhosis or bridging hepatic fibrosis (3/9) | N.A. | RT-PCR (positive 3/5) | N.A. |
| Schaller et al. 2020 | 10 (3 F, 7 M; 64–90 years) | N.A. | Periportal lymphoplasma cellular infiltration, signs of fibrosis | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| Wang et al. (2020a) | 2 (1 F, 79 years; 1 M, 50 years) | N.A. (biopsy) | Apoptotic hepatocytes, prominent binuclear or multinuclear syncytial hepatocytes, microvescicular and macrovesicular steatosis, focal lobular inflammation with infiltration of predominant lymphocytes and few neutrophils, mild inflammation in the portal tracts with lymphocytic infiltrate | CD68, CD4, CD8, Ki67 (positive) | N.A. | TEM: Coronavirus particles in hepatocyte cytoplasm, most viral particles without membrane-bound vesicles. TUNEL: Positive cells in nuclei |
| Prilutskiy et al. (2020) | 4 (1 F; 3 M; 64–91 years) | Unrelevant | Centrolobular congestion and steatosis | Pax-5, CD3 (negative); CD163 (positive) | N.A. | N.A. |
| Wang et al. (2020b) | 1 (F, 75 years) | N.A. (biopsy) | Coagulative necrosis, microvesicular steatosis, apoptosis, canalicular cholestasis | N.A. | N.A. | ISH (negative) |
| Rapkiewicz et al. (2020) | 7 (4 F, 3 M; 44.65 years) | Mild macrovesicular steatosis (7/7) | Mild, macrovesicular steatosis (7/7), cirrhosis (1/7), platelet-fibrin microthrombi in hepatic sinusoids (6/7) with ischemic type hepatic necrosis (2/7), platelet aggregates in the portal veins (2/7) | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| Varga et al. (2020) | 3 (M, 71 years; F, 58 years; M, 69 years) | N.A. | Lymphocytic endotheliitis and cell necrosis (case 2) | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| Sonzogni et al. (2020) | 48 (35 M, 13 F; 32–86 years) | N.A. | Portal vein parietal fibrosis (29/48); herniated portal vein in periportal. Parenchyma (36/48); periportal abnormal vessels (48/48); fibrosis (37/48); lobular inflammation (24/48); portal inflammation (32/48); vascular thrombosis (porta 25/48; sinusoidal 13/48); parenchymal confluent necrosis (18/48); steatosis (26/48) | CD3, CD4, CD20 (positive); CD34 (positive); factor VIII, SMA (positive); C4d (negative) | N.A. | ISH (15/22 in blood cloths or endothelial cells) |
N.A., not available; ISH, in situ hybridization; TEM, transmission electron microscopy; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling; SMA, actin smooth muscle.