Zebra-like bodies in COVID-19: is phospholipidosis evidence of hydroxychloroquine induced acute kidney injury?. (20th November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Obeidat, Mohammad; Isaacson, Alexandra L; Chen, Stephanie J.; Ivanovic, Marina; Holanda, Danniele
• Is Part Of: Ultrastructural pathology. Volume 44:Number 4/6(2020)
• Page Start: 519
• Page End: 523
• Publication Date: 2020-11-20
• Subjects: Pandemic -- Covid-19 -- hydroxychloroquine -- zebra bodies -- acute kidney injury -- acute tubular injury; Pathology, Cellular -- Periodicals; Ultrastructure (Biology) -- Periodicals; Diagnosis, Electron microscopic -- Periodicals; Microscopy, Electron; Pathology; 616.07582
• DOI: 10.1080/01913123.2020.1850966
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0191-3123

Abstract

ABSTRACT: COVID-19 (from SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of an ongoing pandemic, with an increasing number of cases and significant mortality worldwide. Clinical trials and extensive studies are being conducted on a large scale for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of this disease and its effect on different organs. Several experimental treatment protocols have been introduced, in which hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was one of the first drugs used. While patients can develop many side effects of HCQ, studies have documented a rare association of long-term HCQ treatment with zebra-like bodies in the ultrastructural examination of kidney biopsies, a finding typically seen in Fabry's disease, as well as in association with chronic HCQ use, among other drugs. We present a similar finding in the postmortem examination of a male in his early seventies with COVID-19 infection, who received five days of HCQ treatment before stopping the medication due to cardiac and renal toxicity.