Benefits and Future of Clinical Autopsy: A Literature Review

Clinical autopsies are performed by pathologists in the hospital to diagnose the disease that has caused the death of a person when all antemortem attempts have become unsuccessful. Despite the cause of death being established antemortem, the clinical autopsy is carried out to study the process of disease in situ and to confirm the clinical diagnosis made by the physician. Thus, clinical autopsy enhances and improves the knowledge of medical science. Clinical autopsy is done on the request of family members of the deceased or by the physician; the consent of the deceased's relatives is required. Before starting a clinical autopsy, all the documentary prerequisites should be fulfilled. Basic infrastructure required for clinical autopsy is a furnished room with adequate facilities for cold storage. Clinical autopsies are not restricted to being performed by a pathologist only. Any registered medical practitioner, especially a qualified pathologist, can carry out a clinical autopsy. After taking consent from the family members of the deceased, a needle, partial, or complete autopsy is performed. There are several benefits of clinical autopsies, such as providing benefits to the family members, improving the quality of diagnosis and treatment, training of pathologists and medical students, understanding the mechanism of sudden unexpected death, understanding the mechanism of fetal death, especially with genetic variation, etc. In the current scenario, there is a decline in the clinical autopsy rate despite several benefits of these autopsies. But clinical autopsy is still considered the gold standard as it helps in the measurement of treatment methods, clinical decision-making procedures, and diagnostic tools. For furnishing high-quality services, there should be sufficient pathologists having the required skill, well-trained and supporting staff, along with modern autopsy facilities. Besides this, there should be adequate support from the laboratory for providing a timely report of histopathology and other required tests.