Learning from the dead Flashcards
Examination of dead bodies over centuries has provided
- Information about anatomy
- Opportunity to relate structure to function
- Ability to study the effects of disease processes and allow clinicopathological correlation/cause of death
- Evidence for criminal proceedings
- Ability to assess the impact of therapeutic interventions
Do we still learn from the dead?
- Modern imaging techniques, biochemistry, biopsies etc provide valuable information in life but do not explain everything
- Discrepancy between ante-mortem and post-mortem diagnosis
- Neurodegenerative disorders
- Research studies involving autopsies are continuing e.g. (in Leicester) chronic renal disease, lung cancer
History of dissection
- Frowned upon by religious authorities
- Used to be a secret activity
- Detailed drawings and wax models produced
- Used in medical education
- Body snatching e.g. Burke and Hare
autopsy means
to see for oneself (same as a post-mortem)
autopsy is the same as a
post-mortem
types of autopsy
medicolegal
forensic
consent
medicolegal autopsy
- Performed on behalf of the HM coroner
- No consent needed
Foresenic autopsy
- Sub-type of coroners post-mortems
- Suspicious deaths
consent autopsy
- Consent from next of kin
- May limit examination (relatives wishes)
when are coroners autopsies carried out
- Legal requirement
- Deceased unknown
- Deceased not seen by a doctor within 14 days of death
- Attending doctor not able to give cause of death
- Obviously unnatural death (murder, accident, suicide)
- Death related to occupational disease or accident
- Death related to medical treatment or procedure
What’s involved in an autopsy?
history
external examination
internal examination
history during a coroners autopsies
often limited
external examiantion in coroners autopsies
- Natural disease
- Injury
- Medical intervention
internal examination during a coroners autopsy
- All systems usually
- Limited sometimes- especially in consent cases
additional tests in a coroners autopsy
histology
toxicology
biochemistry
microbiology
molecular
histology
- For making a diagnosis
- For confirming a diagnosis
Toxicology
- Blood, urine, vitreous, bile etc
- Therapeutic drugs
- Recreational drugs
Biochemistry
- Diabetes quite hard to diagnose because cells use glucose after death (BG may be normal level at time of autopsy)
- Diabetic ketoacidosis
- Alcoholic ketoacidosis
- Renal failure
Microbiology
Bacteria
Viruses
Fungi
Molecular
- Identification/ elimination of suspect
- Test for genetic diseases e.g. cardiomyopathy
genetic fingerpritning
- First described in Leicester by Prof. Sir Alec Jeffreys
- First murder case solved by genetic fingerprinting also in Leicester
- Colin Pitchfork- Murdered two young girls
Common causes of sudden death: Head
- Extradural haemorrhage
- Subdural haemorrhage
- Sub-arachnoid haemorrhage
- Stroke
- Ischaemic
- Haemorrhagic
Common causes of sudden death: Heart
- Coronary thrombosis
- Valvular disease
- Cardiomyopathy
- Non-ischaemic
- Non-inflammatory disease of heart muscle
- Hypertrophic
- Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy
- Obstructive
- Dilated
