Analysis of undiagnosed neoplasms identified at post-mortem: A descriptive study

Abstract

Autopsy which is also known as post-mortem examination has been derived from the greek term “autopsia” meaning “to see for one self”. Autopsies performed by the forensic medicine specialists are followed by histopathological examination of various concerned organs for underlying cause of death. histopathological examination of various organs thus always present an interesting plethora of unsuspected findings. These findings could have been present ante mortem with symptoms or completely asymptomatic. The undetectable lesions could have contributed to the death of the person. There fore the alertnesss and inquisitiveness of a pathologist while examining the autopsy cases can contribute significantly towards the subject of pathology and also serve as a learning process for the clinician to establish clinicopathological correlations. This study has been conducted with the following aims & objectives in mind:To analyse the neoplastic lesions detected incidentally on histopathology and correlate with the symptoms if any present ante mortem. Settings and design: this is a retrospective, descriptive study done in the department of pathology, dr. bsa hospital, delhi.A retrospective study of medicolegal autopsies for five years was undertaken in a tertiary care centre to analyse the tumors incidentally detected on histopathological examination. Autopsy records of 663 cases were reviewed and cases where a histopathological diagnosis of tumor was given were included in our study. Gross and histopathologic findings were noted and the salient features were studied. Clinical data of these cases were noted in detail from the forensic post mortem records and tabulated. This study includes 12 cases of tumor out of 663 cases. Most common benign tumor was leiomyoma and most common malignant tumor was adenocarcinoma. An interesting case of hodgkins lymphoma in spleen and liver was also documented. A single case of meningioma, squamous cell carcinoma metastasis to heart and astrocytic tumor were noted.This study highlights the various undetected tumors both benign and malignant. This study also gives a perspective to correlate ante mortem findings with post mortem findings to the clinician and pathologist.