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Obese subjects with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are at increased risk of requiring critical care (1), suggesting that excess body fat associates with greater disease severity. BMI does not discriminate between fat and lean body mass and poorly reflects fat distribution. Cardiometabolic diseases and increased systemic inflammation, two conditions associated with visceral adiposity, are also linked to COVID-19 severity and fatality (1,2). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between abdominal fat distribution and COVID-19 severity. We hypothesized that excess visceral adipose tissue (VAT), as identified by an increased VAT to subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) ratio (VAT/SAT), is associated with COVID-19 severity, as defined by intensive care unit (ICU) admission. This was a single-center cohort study of 441 patients consecutively admitted to the Emergency Department (ED) of the Trauma Center Public Hospital Bufalini, Cesena, Italy, between 26 February and 6 April 2020 for a clinical suspicion of COVID-19. Of these patients, 144 had confirmed COVID-19 based on positive RT-PCR from a nasal and/or throat swab together with high-resolution computed tomography (HR-CT) findings suggestive of COVID-19 pneumonia. Of those, 61 (42%) were admitted to ICU (ICU-COVID-19 group). One-hundred thirty-six patients evaluated in the ED for clinical suspicion of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) …

Many studies have focused on the importance of post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) prior to or in substitution of standard forensic autopsies in case of firearm death. However, due to the fact that PMCT is not routinely performed in all countries, in cases of death abroad it can happen that a CT scan is performed only after a first autopsy. A case of post-mortem re-examination, including the external examination and a post-autopsy computed tomography (PACT), of a gunshot victim of homicide in a foreign country is presented, and the pros and cons of imaging in post-autopsy setting are discussed. PACT could be a tool for carrying out more complete investigations and for obtaining information on bone injuries and foreign bodies trapped within peripheral soft tissues that can be re-analyzed after the arrival of the first autopsy report. Given that the value of information derived may be strongly influenced by the previously performed autopsy, in order to process the definitive considerations it is necessary to compare and interpret the data obtained through PACT with the results of the first autopsy, and to continue the international cooperation effort and the application of international guidelines in order to share information at the repatriation of the corpse.