Postmortem biopsies: the experience in Kuwait

Wael El-Reshaid 1, Kamel El-Reshaid, John Madda

Affiliations

01 May 2005

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doi: 10.1159/000084635

Abstract

Objective: To report our 4-year experience in postmortem needle biopsy of liver, heart, kidney and lung tissues when formal autopsy could not be performed.

Subjects and methods: In the period from January 2000 to December 2003, postmortem biopsies were done at Al-Amiri Hospital, Kuwait, in 19 cases where the original diagnosis or cause of death was not clear. The procedure was performed by a dedicated trained medical team using a biopsy needle or limited incisions guided by the knowledge of the clinical presentation and results of laboratory and radiological investigations.

Results: The actual diagnosis was established in 8 cases by postmortem histological findings and corrected in another 9 cases. In the remaining 2 cases with systemic sepsis, autopsy only confirmed the antemortem clinical diagnosis.

Conclusion: Our study shows that needle biopsy is an adequate technique for postmortem examination and should be considered as the minimum alternative to conventional autopsy.

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References

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

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