[Morphological findings in fatal cases of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome. Report of 7 autopsies].

INTRODUCTION: Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) is an acute infectious disease characterized by sudden cardiorespiratory failure and high mortality, caused by a RNA virus of the genus Hantavirus, family Bunyaviridae, 15% of Chilean cases have been detected in the Araucania Region.

OBJECTIVE: To determine in fatal cases of HCPS, clinical and morphological characteristics.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Descriptive-retrospective analysis of seven fatal cases with postmortem study of HCPS, attended between 1997 and 2009 at the Hospital of Temuco, Chile.

RESULTS: Cases were young patients from rural areas, and presented as an illness of progressive respiratory failure, with leukocytosis, thrombocytopenia and bilateral interstitial pulmonary infiltrates. Main morphological findings were marked intersticial and intraalveolar pulmonary edema, with minimal epithelial injury and mononuclear cell intersticial infiltrate and mild edematous intersticial inflamatory process.

CONCLUSIONS: Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory background allow to suspect HCPS. In fatal cases, the autopsy makes possible to discard other similar pathologies and provide tissue for confirmation of the disease.