key: cord-0710010-x7j3axne authors: Lamas, Nuno Jorge; Costa, Francisca Emanuel; Vizcaíno, José Ramón title: Liquid‐based cytology specimen preparation in the era of the COVID‐19 pandemic: The experience of a laboratory in a portuguese central hospital date: 2020-09-25 journal: Cancer Cytopathol DOI: 10.1002/cncy.22358 sha: 14008f4988702b3b11dae221c57957a491b3ee3b doc_id: 710010 cord_uid: x7j3axne nan The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically changed the global status quo, with millions of people throughout the world infected, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths and posing novel challenges to health care services worldwide. We read the article by Straccia et al 1 regarding a protocol that has been optimized for the safe management of liquid-based cytology samples in the COVID-19 era using an initial 70% ethanol-based sterilization procedure. We were thrilled to learn that a method similar to what we proposed in an article available online since July 1st 2020 in the Annals of Diagnostic Pathology website entitled "The Anatomic Pathology laboratory adjustments in the era of COVID-19 pandemic: The experience of a laboratory in a Portuguese central hospital" 2 yielded results approximately the same as ours, namely the decreased cellularity of the samples, an increase in the amount of fibrin within the background, and changes in cell and nuclear size. It is interesting to note that we also compared the "standard" procedure with a new method for liquid-based cytology that is centered on heat-based sterilization (pasteurization), gathering knowledge from previous studies that demonstrated that different coronaviruses can become noninfectious upon heat exposure, after 90 minutes at 56 °C, 60 minutes at 67 °C, or 30 minutes at 75 °C, 3 and considered an effective method with which to inactivate severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-associated coronaviruses in biological liquids such as blood and its derivatives. 4 In our hands, this method proved to be noninferior to standard protocols and therefore is an appealing alternative to a 70% ethanol-based viral inactivation. We currently are expanding this approach and conducting a comprehensive analysis to demonstrate the robustness of the protocol. It is of fundamental value that pathologists share their approaches to dealing with patient samples in the face of a second global wave of COVID-19. By sharing our novel optimized protocols, we all will be better equipped to meet the challenges posed by this novel coronavirus. The authors did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Description of a new biosafe procedure for cytological specimens from patients with COVID-19 processed by liquid-based preparations The anatomic pathology laboratory adjustments in the era of COVID-19 pandemic: the experience of a laboratory in a Portuguese central hospital Stability of SARS coronavirus in human specimens and environment and its sensitivity to heating and UV irradiation Effective inactivation of a wide range of viruses by pasteurization The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors of the original article were given the opportunity to respond but declined.