Medical Science: Recent Advances and Applications Vol. 8

Introduction: An autopsy, also known as a post-mortem examination, is a highly specialised surgical procedure and consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury. Autopsy is the gold standard to ascertain cause of death, particularly in settings with suspicious, sudden, obscure, unnatural, litigious or criminal deaths and with research and evaluation in the medical field.

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the histopathological findings related or unrelated to the cause of death and to highlight various incidental and interesting gross and microscopic findings in autopsies.

Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study of 7 years where organs of a total of 53 medicolegal postmortems were examined for histopathological lesions, from 2008-2014 in the Department of Pathology, Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences (BRIMS), Bidar, Karnataka, India. The commonest cause of death was pulmonary oedema. The most common incidental finding was atherosclerosis, which was associated with high-risk factors of alcohol consumption and smoking.

Results: Autopsy cause of death and contributing findings were based on the gross and microscopic findings combined with information collected from the autopsy surgeon and Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences (BRIMS), Bidar. Among various histopathological findings, the commonest microscopic finding was pulmonary oedema followed by fatty liver, and the commonest incidental finding was atherosclerosis.

Conclusion: In conclusion, atherosclerosis was found to be the commonest incidental finding which led to ischemic heart disease (IHD), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and sudden death in the 20- 40 years age group in males. This was associated with a history of habitual alcohol consumption and smoking, both of which are high-risk factors contributing to the development of IHD. Incidental histopathologic findings may not be found to influence the cause of death but nonetheless reveal many interesting facts related to epidemiology, which help in academic and research purposes. The significance of a careful postmortem examination can be summed up in the old saying “the dead teach the living”.