Brain donation in the era of COVID 19: challenges to the harvest in the face of a pandemic
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Brain donation in the era of COVID 19: challenges to the harvest in the face of a pandemic Daniella Iglesias-Hernandez . Keith H. Radler . Nora Hernandez . Phyllis L. Faust . Elan D. Louis
Received: 1 August 2020 / Accepted: 3 November 2020 Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract We have experienced numerous new challenges during the process of brain harvesting in the period of COVID-19. Although brain harvests have continued successfully during this time period, the numerous uncertainties and challenges described in this paper have nearly derailed the process several times. While the interface of the medical profession with patients in the context of a pandemic has been well-documented on several fronts, and particularly for those health care workers on the front lines, we are not aware of any documentary accounts of the challenges facing research and tissue donation programs. With this paper, we contribute an additional perspective and describe the lessons we have learned in addressing these novel issues. Keywords Brain banking COVID-19 Brain donation PPE Autopsy
D. Iglesias-Hernandez K. H. Radler N. Hernandez E. D. Louis (&) Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA e-mail: [email protected] P. L. Faust Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center and the New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA
Introduction On January 21st, 2020 the first case of COVID-19 in the United States was confirmed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (aCDC 2020). Almost one month after initial reports were made in Wuhan, the world was beginning to comprehend the full extent of the virus and its possible repercussions (World Health Organization 2020). Many countries began to use social distancing interventions as the most effective tool to prevent the rise of cases and slow the pandemic’s vertiginous advance (Matrajt and Leung 2020); some nations such as Spain and Italy made it mandatory for citizens to abide by the quarantine orders (Oksanen et al. 2020). However, it was not until March 11th, 2020 that the Word Health Organization declared the outbreak a global pandemic (Cucinotta and Vanelli 2020). By this date, New York City confirmed its first fatality associated with the virus (Gross et al. 2020), and shortly after, this metropolis became the new epicenter of the pandemic (Gross et al. 2020). The health care system and funeral services industry inevitably became overwhelmed by a significant rise in the number of deaths (Vieira et al. 2020). Since then, the virus has caused numerous changes in the world’s economy and the dynamics of social interactions and mental health showing that the consequences of the pandemic extend beyond the loss of human lives (Bondi and Lannitelli 2020). Harvesting brains in the midst of the COVID era has raised
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