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Nervous System

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Handbook of Autopsy Practice

Abstract

The head is elevated slightly with a wooden block or a metal headrest attached to the autopsy table. The hair is parted with a comb along a coronal plane connecting one mastoid with the other over the convexity (Fig. 4-1).A sharp scalpel blade can then be used to cut through the whole thickness of the scalp from the outside. The incision should starton the right side of the head(the “viewing-side” in most American funeral parlors) just behind the earlobe, as low as possible without extending below the earlobe, and extend to the comparable level on the other side. This will make reflection of the scalp considerably easier. Sufficient tissue should be left behind the ear to permit easy sewing of the incision by the mortician.

Scalp incision. Dotted line indicates coronal plane of the primary incision. It starts on right side over the mastoid just behind earlobe and passes over palpable posterolateral ridges of parietal bones to reach opposite mastoid. This line is slightly tilted backward from plane parallel with face.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Caterina Giannini MD (Division of Anatomic Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology) & Haruo Okazaki MD (Emeritus Member, Emeritus Professor of Laboratory Medicine)

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

    Haruo Okazaki MD (Emeritus Member, Emeritus Professor of Laboratory Medicine)

Authors
  1. Caterina Giannini MD
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  2. Haruo Okazaki MD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Vermont, USA

    Brenda L. Waters MD (Associate Professor) (Associate Professor)

  2. Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington, VT, USA

    Brenda L. Waters MD (Associate Professor) (Associate Professor)

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© 2009 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Giannini, C., Okazaki, H. (2009). Nervous System. In: Waters, B.L. (eds) Handbook of Autopsy Practice. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-127-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-127-7_4

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-841-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-127-7

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