ECP 2022 Abstract Book

Virchows Archiv (2022) 481 (Suppl 1):S1–S364 13 lung is broad with overlapping features, and spatial and temporal heterogeneity as opposed to conventional diffuse alveolar damage. The most common complication is hepatic encephalopathy due to the presence of liver cirrhosis in this population, followed by thrombotic microangiopathy and AKI. Other complications were related to hypercoagulability or bleeding diathesis. Funding: George Dock Professorship. University of Texas Medi- cal Branch OFP-08-009 Patterns of infectious disease identified in clinical autopsy. The role of autopsy as an ancillary study in determining the cause of death M. Khaba*, M. Dikotope, N. Makhado *Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, South Africa Background & objectives: Infectious diseases are one of the most prevalent diseases in clinical autopsies. Despite its value, the use of autopsies has decreased and infectious diseases are often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed due to the lack of pathological understanding. Methods: This was an 8 year retrospective study of autopsy cases with final diagnosis of infectious diseases. Results: The study consisted of 52 autopsies which comprised of 32 female (61.53%) and 20 males (38.46%) with mean age of 28 years. HIV/AIDS was the commonest comorbidity (17/52; 32.69%). Bacterial pneumonia (80.76%) was one of the most common infectious diseases, followed by septic shock (19.23%), candidiasis (14%), bacterial meningitis (9.61%), tuberculosis (7,69%), cryptococcosis (7.69%), cytomegalovirus infection (5.26%) and herpes simplex virus infection and mucormycosis each 1.92%. Antemortem diagnosis was incorrect in 63.46% (33/52) of the cases. Conclusion: The use of autopsy for years has been the gold stand- ard for establishing the causes of death and have played a valuable role in the diagnosis and understanding of diseases. Autopsies have also informed public health strategies in the fight against these communicable diseases. OFP-08-010 The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on autopsy practice M. Carter*, S. Brennan, L. Clarke, K. O’Hare *Tallaght University Hospital, Ireland Background & objectives: Tallaght University Hospital autopsies from the two years before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic were analysed. We hypothesised that the pandemic would cause fewer autopsies, increased use of ancillary testing and prolonged time from death to autopsy. Methods: All autopsies conducted between mid-March 2018 and mid-March 2022 were analysed for basic demographic information, location of death (community, emergency department or hospital inpatient) and the use of ancillary studies such as toxicology, his- tology, microbiology and subspecialty examination. The data from the two years prior to the pandemic (Study Period 1) and following two years (Study Period 2) were compared. Results: Fewer post-mortem examinations were conducted in Study Period 2 (n = 238) compared to Study Period 1 (n = 418). An institutional change in autopsy practice accounts for much of this decrease, however the data for emergency department deaths only also showed a significantly fewer autopsies between Study Period 1 and 2 (n = 90 v n = 52). Average time from death to autopsy significantly increased (2.3 days v 3.8 days, p-value <0.01). The use of toxicology, histology, neuropathology and non-SARS-CoV-2 microbiology did not change significantly. The use of post-mortem microbiology has increased primarily due to screening for SARS- CoV-2 with 95.4% of decedents undergoing nasopharyngeal swab- bing since mid-March 2020. Conclusion: Since the beginning of the pandemic our institution has found a reduction in autopsy examinations, an increased inter- val between death and autopsy and an increased use of micro- biological ancillary testing. The demographic characteristics of our autopsy cases, and rates of use of non-microbiology ancillary testing have not changed significantly. OFP-08-011 Analysis of the causes of death in cases of COVID-19 based on maternal mortality cases during the pandemic A. Sapargaliyeva*, D. Mirzakhmetova, I. Yefimenko *Pathology Bureau of Almaty City; Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Department of Fundamental Medicine), Kazakhstan Background & objectives: Officially COVID-19 led to a sharp increase in maternal mortality in the Republic of Kazakhstan. There were 156 cases of maternal death in 2020 and 200 cases in 2021. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 78 cases of maternal death for the period of 2020-2021 with a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 to determine a cause of death. All women (32-39 weeks of pregnancy) were admitted to the hospital with positive PCR results for COVID-19. The death of women occurred within 3 to 45 days after hospitalization. Results: In 67 cases out of 78 morphological signs of COVID- 19 were identified. However, the morphological spectrum of lung damage was quite diverse, including acute tracheobronchitis, pulmonary oedema, and massive hyaline membranes (in 8 cases). In 31 cases, there were signs of bacterial and fungal infection with COVID-19. In 28 cases, the cause of maternal death was obstetric pathology, but squamous metaplasia of the epithelium of the trachea and large bronchi and signs of exudate organization in the alveoli were detected. Conclusion: Based on our analysis of COVID-19, massive hyaline membranes were the cause of death, but in a small number of cases. The death of patients with COVID-19 in most cases was associated with a bacterial or fungal infection. Squamous metaplasia of the epithelium of the trachea and large bronchi and giant cell transformation of alveolar macrophages indicate a viral infection. OFP-09 | Joint Oral Free Paper Session Endocrine Pathology / Head & Neck Pathology OFP-09-001 Cadherin-16 (CDH16) immunohistochemistry: a novel diagnos- tic tool for renal cell carcinoma and papillary carcinomas of the thyroid M. Lennartz*, S. Minner, N. Gorbokon, A. Menz, T. Krech, D. Höflmayer, R. Simon, G. Sauter, T.S. Clauditz, A. Hinsch *University Medical Center Hamburg, Germany Background & objectives: Cadherin-16 (CDH16), also termed kidney specific cadherin (ksp-cadherin), is a membrane-associated glycoprotein with a role in the embryonal development of tubuli in kidney and thyroid. Downregulation of CDH16 RNA was found in papillary carcinomas of the thyroid. Methods: A set of tissue microarrays containing 14,978 sam- ples from 149 different tumour types and subtypes as well as S34