Autopsies performed on those who lost their battle with 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can provide crucial information about the virus. That information is being used to help understand the disease and how to treat COVID-19.

Amy V. Rapkiewicz, MD, chair of the Department of Pathology at NYU Winthrop Hospital and director of autopsies for NYU Long Island School of Medicine, shares her observations with The Washington Post. Although it is too early to tell whether her findings will lead to new treatments, Dr. Rapkiewicz says they open up new areas of study.

Jeffrey S. Berger, MD, director of NYU Langone’s Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, is one of the clinician–scientists taking the information discovered from autopsies and testing possible COVID-19 treatments.

Dr. Rapkiewicz’s reports suggest antiplatelet medications, like aspirin, could be helpful to stave off complications caused by COVID-19, and Dr. Berger is currently recruiting for a clinical trial to answer this question.

“It’s only one piece of a very big puzzle, and we have a lot more to learn,” Dr. Berger says. “But if we can prevent significant complications, and if more patients can survive the infection, that changes everything.”

Read more from The Washington Post.