|
.
Articles » Medical Examiner
Medical Autopsies: Techniques And Procedures
Fahad Pervez
Medical autopsy is not a very common practice these days. In fact, there has been a decreased interest in this field in the medical community. "Its purpose is to learn the truth about the person's health during life, and how the person really died," stated Ed Friedlander, M.D., pathologist, "I have always found something worth knowing that wasn't known during life. Even at major hospitals, in about one case in four we find major disease, which was unknown in life".
The government orders autopsies when there is suspicion of foul play. However, the family or the physician can also request them. A pathologist, the medical examiner, performs the procedure. The hospital pathologist performs it as an educational benefit for the medical staff. Those services are free. An independent pathologist is also sometimes hired by the family, which costs around $1,500.
Immediately before the autopsy, the corpse is removed from the cooler of the morgue and placed on the autopsy table. The body is then weighed and measured. Then the pathologist examines the outside of the body for any abnormalities or protrusions. The pathologist usually talks into a microphone or takes notes on paper.
The first incision is made from the pubic area up to the breasts. It is made in the shape of the letter Y because it splits into two directions around the diaphragm. The pathologist is always looking for abnormalities. These could include an internal infection, unusual odor, or just the color of an area.
The pathologist examines the chest organs, including the heart and lungs. They use a hypodermic needle to extract blood from the heart to be sent to the microbiology lab for further analysis. Specimens are also extracted from the pancreas, the brain, or even the eyes. Analysis of these specimens can reveal the use of drugs, medicine, alcohol, or poison.
All the solid organs are weighed on a grocer's scale. They include the heart, lungs, brain, kidney, liver, and spleen. To examine the abdominal contents, the first step is to free up the large intestine. The intestine is removed and cut off with scissors. The liver is also removed and weighed. A normal liver weighs about 1400 GMS. If the liver is fat or very large, it shows effects of alcoholism or some other disease. Besides the liver and the large intestine, full analysis of the digestive system involves the examination of esophagus, stomach, pancreas, duodenum, and spleen.
Each organ is weighed separately and examined carefully for abnormalities. The pathologist also checks the contents to reveal any signs of poisoning or infection from a disease. The organs are also sampled for microscopic examination. Small sections are cut and placed in a jar of formalin for fixation. A special process removes all the water from the specimens and replaces it with paraffin wax. Special equipment is required for that process. Permanent sections are cut from the wax, which are studied under the microscope and kept on file for a minimum of twenty years. The final steps involve cleaning up and restoring the corpse. Many of the organs are either "used-up" or thrown out, so the body is often missing internal organs. The medical pathologist issues the final report in about thirty days after further analysis of the slides.
|
http://www.mtdaily.com
/mt1/auto86.html
E D Frielander M.D. Pathologist
|
