Figure 1.

Extended postmortem bedside surgical procedure

(A) Sequence of four steps to procure bedside samples from deceased COVID-19 patients. Clockwise: in step 1, a CSF sample is extracted from the cisterna magna by a needle puncture below the occiput. In step 2, a blood sample is drawn from a femoral vein. In step 3, several nasopharyngeal swabs are taken under endoscopic guidance. In step 4, further under endoscopic guidance, tissue samples of respiratory mucosa and olfactory cleft mucosa are harvested; using an endoscopic endonasal transcribriform approach, each olfactory bulb is removed separately; finally, tissue samples of the frontal lobe are harvested.

(B) Cohort-II of 45 COVID-19 patients. Time variables are expressed as median and interquartile range Q1–Q3.