Five-year Retrospective Study of Pathological Findings in Medico-legal Autopsies in a Tertiary Care Hospital

A BSTRACT Introduction: Autopsies help in identifying the cause and time of death and also in ascertaining or confirming the medical diagnosis where it was unclear or unknown prior to death. Materials and Method: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted on the medico-legal autopsies done over a period 5 years in the Department of Pathology in a tertiary care hospital. Only those autopsy cases were studied for which specimens were sent for histopathological examination. There were a total of 234 cases included in the study. Result: A total of 730 organ specimens were studied, the major organs studied were lung – 135 (18.49%), followed by liver – 120 (16.44%), heart – 111 (15.21%), and kidney – 91 (12.46%). The commonest finding in the lung was pulmonary edema in 37 cases. The commonest finding in the heart was atherosclerosis in 37 cases. In kidneys, the most frequent finding was acute tubular necrosis (ATN) in 26 cases. A few incidental and unexpected findings were also noted these included tumors, infections, and inflammatory conditions. The tumors that were seen were squamous cell carcinoma, lung, prostatic adenocarcinoma, thymoma, leiomyoma, and hemangioma. Another interesting finding was giant cell myocarditis in a patient who was on treatment for schizophrenia and had been recently started on tab. Clozapine and died within 24hours of developing acute breathlessness and chest discomfort.