AIMS This is the first study to investigate the usefulness of structured, scripted videos as an adjunct to the mortuary based training of histopathology trainees in necropsy techniques. METHODS Four structured and scripted videos describing aspects of necropsy health and safety, evisceration, general dissection techniques, specialist dissection techniques, and reconstruction were shown to his...

BACKGROUND Diagnostic sensitivity is calculated as the number of correct diagnoses divided by the sum of correct diagnoses plus the number of missed or false negative diagnoses. Because missed diagnoses are generally detected during clinical follow up or at necropsy, the low necropsy rates seen in current practice may result in overestimates of diagnostic performance. Using three target conditi...

OBJECTIVE Necropsy confirmed clinical diagnostic accuracy for Alzheimer's disease is claimed to exceed 90%. This figure contains two fallacies; it includes cases in which Alzheimer's disease exists with other diseases affecting cognition and the studies that report these figures excluded cases without necropsy (verification bias). The effect of these errors is estimated. METHODS Data were tak...

BACKGROUND Necropsy is the gold standard for clinicopathological discrepancy studies and epidemiological surveys. Inadequate sampling or lack of tissue may hamper the final interpretation and quality of the necropsy. AIM To compare the histological and gross necropsy diagnoses of different organs. METHODS A retrospective comparison of the provisional reports (gross findings only) and the fi...

A 62 year old man with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia presented with malabsorption, the cause of which could not be found during life. Necropsy examination showed aspergillosis, limited to the stomach, where tumour-like masses were seen, the oesophagus, and lungs. This case illustrates the problems of diagnosing fungal infections in life and the importance of clinicopathological correlation at n...

Following the recent publication in this journal of two original articles dealing with the value of the necropsy and its practice after the ‘‘organ retention scandal’’, we report on the situation in Ireland, where the issue of postmortem practice is still the subject of a formal inquiry. Worldwide, there has been a considerable decline in the incidence of hospital necropsies over the past sever...

BACKGROUND Necropsy examination provides a good index of the accuracy of clinical diagnosis and the quality of treatment, but its use in sub-Saharan Africa is limited. AIMS To identify the main reasons for parents'/guardians' refusal of consent for necropsy and to explore the issues affecting their decision. METHODS A sequential necropsy study of Zambian children between 2 months and 15 yea...

An adult female budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) presented with abdominal enlargement. The condition of the bird deteriorated after needle aspiration for cytological examination. The budgerigar was euthanatized and a complete necropsy was performed. Microscopic sections were prepared and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, Gram staining, periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and acid-fast staining. Es...

COMPLETE or partial agenesis of the corpus callosum is uncommon especially in adults; the incidence amongst patients in institutions where numerous air encephalograms are performed is 3% (Carpenter and Drukemiller, 1953). Reil (1812) published the first report of a case, describing the necropsy findings in a 30 year old woman of low mentality; further cases discovered at necropsy were subsequen...