Abstract
Objective
The objective of this study were to evaluate the diagnostic utility of the autopsy in University hospital in Tehran, Iran.
Methods
In this retrospective descriptive — analytic survey during a six years period from 1998 to 2003, autopsies in the Bahrami Children Hospital, a teriary care hospital in Tehran, were studied. The clinical and autopsy diagnoses were compared and categorized as follows: 1. Change (clinical and autopsy diagnoses discordant), 2. Add (significant unexpected findings noted on the autopsy, although the clinical diagnosis was not altered), 3. Confirm (clinical and autopsy diagnosis concordant), 4. Autopsy inconclusive.
Results
Eighty four autopsies were studied. Out of 350 neonatal deaths in the period, autopsy was performed in 74 neonates (21%) and of 249 under 5 year deaths (except neonates) autopsy was performed in only 10 cases (4%). In 61 cases (73%) the autopsy diagnoses confirmed the clinical diagnosis, in 10 cases (12%) it changed the clinical diagnosis, in 11 cases (13%) it significantly added to the clinical diagnosis and in 2 cases (2%) it was inconclusive.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that neonatal and infantile autopsy continued to provide clinically useful data in 25% of cases and remains an invaluable tool in pediatric medicine.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brodlie M, Laing IA, Keeling JW et al. Ten years of neonatal autopsies in tertiary referral center: retrospective study. Br Med J 2002; 324: 761–763.
Kumar P, Angst DB, Taxy J et al. Neonatal autopsies: a 10-year experience. Arch pediatr Adolesc Med 2000; 154: 38–42.
Landers S, Mac pherson T. Prevalence of the neonatal autopsy: a report of the Study Group for Complications of perinatal care. Pediatric Pathol Lab Med 1995; 15: 539–545.
Dhar V, Perlman M, Vilela MI et al. Autopsy in a neonatal intensive care unit:utilization patterns and associations of clinicopathologic discordances. Pediatric 1998; 132: 75–79.
Laing IA. Clinical aspects of neonatal death and autopsy. Seminars in Neonatalogy 2004; 9: 247–254.
Valizadeh Gh. Evaluation of the causes of neonatal mortality according to the autopsy findings. Iranian Journal of Institute of Health 1997; 16: 25–31.
Geller SA Religious attitudes and the autopsy. Arch Pathol Lab Med 1984; 108: 494–496.
Ghanem I. Permission for performing an autopsy: The pitfalls under Islamic law. Med Sci Law 1988; 28: 241–242.
Rispler-Chaim V. The ethics of postmortem examinations in contemporary Islam. J Med Ethics 1993; 19: 164–168.
Saller DN, Lesser KB, Harrel U et al. The clinical utility of the perinatal autopsy. J Am Med Assoc 1995; 273: 663–665.
Tasdelen E, Aksoy F, Arvas A et al. Causes of fetal and neonatal death. Turkish J Pediatr 1995; 37: 201–207.
Meier PR, Manchester DK, Shikes RH et al. Perinatal autopsy: its clinical value. Obstet Gynecol 1986; 67: 349–353.
Gordijn SJ, Erwich JJ, Khong TY. Value of the perinatal autopsy. Pediatr Develop Pathol 2002; 5: 480–488.
Landefeld CS, Chren MM, Myers A et al. Diagnostic yield of the autopsy in a university hospital and a community hospital. N England J Med 318: 1249–1254.
Craft H, Brazy JE. Autopsy: high yield in neonatal population. Am J Dis Child 1986; 140: 1260–1262.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salamati, P., Abdi-Rad, A., Ale-Hossein, M. et al. Diagnostic utility of autopsy in a university hospital in Iran. Indian J Pediatr 75, 585–588 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-008-0113-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-008-0113-7