Post Mortem Flashcards
reportable features of post mortem lesions (8)
location
colour
size/weight
shape
consistency
% involved (or number)
content
odor
morphological descriptions of post mortem lesions (5)
distribution
time (acute/chronic)
severity
cause
type
agonal changes
changes that take place immediately before death - due to circulation failures
rigor mortis
stiffening after death
related to body temperature and metabolic activity at time of death - quick if excited or stressed, slow if cachetic (may not happen at all)
algor mortis
cooling of carcass with death
corneal clouding
after 25 hours after death, easier to evaluate if eyelids have been shut (prevents corneal dehydration)
lens clouding
often mistaken for cataracts
cloud more easily when cold
rumen mucosal sloughing
failure to slough after many hours - suggests a lesion causing adhesion
within 20 mins to several hours
blood glucose
drops rapidly 20 mins after death
growth of eggs or maggots on carcass
agonal
blood clotting
blood coagulates in large arteries and right ventricle
looks like redcurrant jelly and chicken fat
inhibition of bile pigment
local colour change
bile salt diffuse and stain nearby tissue
gaseous distension of GIT
adjacent organs may show surface pallor
caused by continuation of normal bacterial fermentation
putrefaction
tissue degradation - tissue broken down, makes new substances with bad smells
hydrogen sulphide production - blackish colour and rotten egg smell
liver - becomes soft, greenish-blackish, foamy
splenomegaly
from barbiturate euthanasia
discolouration of heart muscle
green-yellow if barbiturate injected directly to heart
Artefact
change that occurs as part of the killing of the animal
postmortem change
occurs after death
hemocyst (blood cyst)
in heart
incidental
smooth, red, raised round focus
seen often in young animals
endocardiosis
heart
incidental depending on context of specific animal
age related
multifocal at line of closure of valve, thickened and pale cream with coalescent nodules
age related calcification
lungs
bits of calcium
incidental if didn’t die of respiratory failure
relevant if widespread or evidence of uremia or respiratory failure - uremic calcification or vitamin d poisoning
multifocal firm to gritty small areas
paralaphestrongylus tenuis
nervous system
incidental in deer but causes neurologic disease in cows and sheep - migrates through spinal cord
nematodes multifocally in meninges and over surface of cerebrum
ascarid migration
liver
multifocal, affecting all lobes, poorly demarcated, flat, round, white to pale tan foci
various nematode species
incidental unless massive migration
common in outdoor pigs
hepatocellular adenoma/carcinoma
lungs
adenoma - benign
carcinoma - malignant
only an issue if they rupture –> hemoabdomen
entirely obliterating a lobe, large, nodularm round, pink to red firm mass
