Unanticipated diagnoses found at autopsy in an urban public teaching hospital

The American Journal of the Medical Sciences
E H BernickerS B Greenberg

Abstract

The authors set out to evaluate the use of the autopsy in an urban public teaching hospital setting during the AIDS era. Demographic and length of hospital stay data were obtained from weekly mortality review reports on all patients dying on the medicine service between 1/1/92 and 12/31/93. Clinical and autopsy diagnoses were compared for those patients who had autopsies. The autopsy rate was 16% (152/974). Significant, unsuspected diagnoses were found in 35% (53/152) of the cases, with infections, pulmonary emboli, and myocardial infarctions being most common. Human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients had a greater percentage of unsuspected findings (55%, 23/42), and many of these also were from an infectious etiology. The authors conclude that valuable, unsuspected information frequently can be obtained from autopsies in this clinical setting.

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Citations

Dec 6, 2005·Quality & Safety in Health Care·K G ShojaniaL Goldman
Jan 21, 2014·Indian Journal of Pathology & Microbiology·Nikhil MoorchungVibha Dutta
Dec 1, 2006·Human Pathology·Mindy J HullEugene J Mark
May 10, 2006·ANZ Journal of Surgery·V Swetha JeganathanChris Lawrence
May 16, 2006·Journal of Forensic Sciences·Philip R CroftRoss E Zumwalt
Sep 19, 2006·Pathology, Research and Practice·Dominique EzaRobert H Gilman
Apr 24, 2012·Annals of Diagnostic Pathology·Abberly A Lott Limbach, Richard A Prayson
Jun 26, 2014·Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics·Taner AkarAlper Özkök
Nov 25, 2003·The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology·Marcus B Nashelsky, Christopher H Lawrence
Mar 28, 2002·Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes : JAIDS·Richard M SelikMark S Dworkin
Mar 28, 2007·Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiología clínica·Manuel Vicente Salinas-MartínJorge Fernández-Alonso

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