ArticleClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2021
Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling as an Alternative to Complete Diagnostic Autopsies in the Context of Epidemic Outbreaks and Pandemics: The Example of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Article in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Tissue distribution of Histoplasma capsulatum in deceased people living with HIV assessed by minimally invasive tissue sampling: An autopsy-based case series in the Brazilian Amazon.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Observational
- Infectious pathogens associated with stillbirth and under-five mortality by sickle cell disease in Western Kenya: a cross-sectional study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Accelerating Proficiency in Minimally Invasive Autopsy for Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Research: A Strategic Framework.Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical · 2026Observational
- Causes of community deaths by verbal autopsy among persons with HIV in 33 districts in Zambia, 2020-2023.PloS one · 2025Article
- Postmortem Minimally Invasive Autopsy in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients at the Bedside: A Proof-of-Concept Study at the ICU.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- [Interdisciplinary ultrasound-guided, minimally invasive autopsy in COVID-19-deceased patients in the intensive care unit of a university hospital : A proof-of-concept study].Pathologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2023Review
- Minimally invasive autopsies for the investigation of pulmonary pathology of COVID-19-experiences of a longitudinal series of 92 patients.Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology · 2023Article
- Comparative Pathogenicity of Three Strains of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Closely Related to Poultry Industry.Viruses · 2023Article
- Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling Surveillance Alliance-Facilitating the Expansion of Pathology-Based Mortality Surveillance.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInfectious diseases' outbreak investigation requires, by definition, conducting a thorough epidemiological assessment while simultaneously obtaining biological samples for an adequate screening of potential responsible pathogens. Complete autopsies remain the gold-standard approach for cause-of-death evaluation and characterization of emerging diseases. However, for highly transmissible infections with a significant associated lethality, such as COVID-19, complete autopsies are seldom performed due to biosafety challenges, especially in low-resource settings. Minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) is a validated new approach based on obtaining postmortem samples from key organs and body fluids, a procedure that does not require advanced biosafety measures or a special autopsy room.
methodsWe aimed to review the use of MITS or similar procedures for outbreak investigation up to 27 March 2021 and their performance for evaluating COVID-19 deaths.
resultsAfter a literature review, we analyzed in detail the results of 20 studies conducted at international sites, whereby 216 COVID-19-related deaths were investigated. MITS provided a general and more granular understanding of the pathophysiological changes secondary to the infection and high-quality samples where the extent and degree of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-related damage could be evaluated.
conclusionsMITS is a useful addition in the investigation and surveillance of infections occurring in outbreaks or epidemics. Its less invasive nature makes the tool more acceptable and feasible and reduces the risk of procedure-associated contagion, using basic biosafety measures. Standardized approaches protocolizing which samples should be collected-and under which exact biosafety measures-are necessary to facilitate and expand its use globally.
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