Post-mortem examination of a small intestine in the coeliac syndrome.

EDITORIAL SYNOPSIS This is an illustrated account of the post-mortem appearances of the small intestine from a patient with a secondary coeliac syndrome.It shows the value of the dissecting microscope in the examination of such material.Histological examination of the small intestine after death is almost invariably valueless because of autolysis.This is the reason why the lesion of idio- pathic steatorrhoea or coeliac syndrome has only been recognized in recent years with the introduction of peroral biopsy.These biopsies can be profitably examined under the dissecting microscope (Rubin, Brandborg, Phelps, and Taylor, 1960; Holmes, Hourihane, and Booth, 1961) but as yet there have been no reports of post-mortem material examined in this way.This paper describes and illustrates the post- mortem changes in the small intestine from a patient who died with a coeliac syndrome secondary to reticulum cell sarcoma (Hindle and Creamer, 1965).The material also shows the difference between the ante-mortem and post-mortem appearances of the intestine as viewed through the dissecting micro- scope.