With the continuous spreading of SARS-CoV-2 and increasing number of deaths worldwide, the need and appropriateness for autopsy in patients with COVID-19 became a matter of discussion. In fact, in the COVID-19 era protection of healthcare workers is a priority besides patient management. No evidence is currently available about the real risk related to the procedure as well as to the subsequent management of the samples. We herein describe the procedure that has been used to perform the first series of postmortem examinations in the COVID center of the Padua University Hospital, Padua, Italy, after the implementation of an ad hoc operating procedure, to minimize the risk of infection for pathologists and technicians. Provided that the procedure is performed in an adequate environment respecting strict biosafety rules, our data indicate that complete postmortem examination appears to be safe and will be highly informative providing useful insights into the complex disease pathogenesis.

随着 SARS-CoV-2 的持续传播和全球死亡人数的增加，对 COVID-19 患者进行尸检的必要性和适当性成为了一个讨论问题。事实上，在 COVID-19 时代，除了患者管理之外，保护医护人员是首要任务。目前没有证据表明与该程序以及随后的样品管理相关的真正风险。我们在此描述了在实施特别操作程序后，在意大利帕多瓦帕多瓦大学医院的 COVID 中心进行第一系列尸检的程序，以尽量减少病理学家的感染风险和技术人员。如果该程序是在尊重严格的生物安全规则的适当环境中进行的，