Salzillo C, Basile R, Cazzato G, Ingravallo G, Marzullo A. Value of autopsy in the modern age: Discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnoses. World J Exp Med 2024; 14(4): 95147 [PMID: 39713071 DOI: 10.5493/wjem.v14.i4.95147]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Cecilia Salzillo, MD, MScCVP, Expert in Pathology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, Pathology Unit, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, Bari 70121, Italy. c.salzillo@studenti.uniba.it
Research Domain of This Article
Pathology
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Exp Med. Dec 20, 2024; 14(4): 95147 Published online Dec 20, 2024. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v14.i4.95147
Value of autopsy in the modern age: Discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnoses
Cecilia Salzillo, Roberta Basile, Gerardo Cazzato, Giuseppe Ingravallo, Andrea Marzullo
Cecilia Salzillo, Gerardo Cazzato, Giuseppe Ingravallo, Andrea Marzullo, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, Pathology Unit, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari 70121, Italy
Cecilia Salzillo, Department of Experimental Medicine, PhD Course in Public Health, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples 80138, Italy
Roberta Basile, Course in Biomedical Laboratory Technique, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari 70121, Italy
Co-first authors: Cecilia Salzillo and Roberta Basile.
Author contributions: Salzillo C and Basile R contributed equally; Salzillo C and Basile R contributed to the conceptualization and methodology; Salzillo C and Cazzato G performed the investigation; Basile R and Cazzato G were involved in data curation; Salzillo C, Basile R, and Cazzato G contributed to writing—original draft preparation; Marzullo A and Ingravallo G contributed to writing—review and editing; Marzullo A and Ingravallo G supervised the work; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The data used in the document were obtained from autopsy reports in the database of the Pathology Unit, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, Bari Polyclinic, Italy. Access to the hospital archive for consultation of histopathological reports was approved and allowed by the director of the Pathology Unit. Furthermore, as this is a retrospective study of deceased patients, institutional review board approval is not required.
Informed consent statement: Data used in the paper were obtained from autoptic reports and do not need to be authorized for publication because they are considered anonymous and do not contain sensitive data. Moreover, according to Italian Law, the relatives of the deceased patients give their authorization to the use of the data for scientific purposes with the consent to the autopsy.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: Not applicable.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Cecilia Salzillo, MD, MScCVP, Expert in Pathology, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, Pathology Unit, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, Bari 70121, Italy. c.salzillo@studenti.uniba.it
Received: April 2, 2024 Revised: July 19, 2024 Accepted: August 5, 2024 Published online: December 20, 2024 Processing time: 211 Days and 18.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Autopsy is a medical procedure that consists of the examination of the corpse to determine the cause of death and obtain information on pathological conditions or injuries. In recent years, there has been a reduction in hospital autopsies and an increase in forensic autopsies.
AIM
To evaluate the utility of autopsy in the modern age and the discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnoses.
METHODS
A retrospective observational study was conducted on the reports of all 645 hospital autopsies performed at Polyclinic of Bari from 2006 to 2021.
RESULTS
Group A, 2006-2009, 174 cases were studied: 58% male, 58% adults, 55% neonatology; pulmonary disease was the cause of death in 23% of cases; and there was a discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis in 55% of cases. Group B, 2010-2013, 119 cases: 52% male, 46% infants, 48% neonatology; pulmonary disease was the cause of death in 25% of cases; and there was a discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis in 56% of cases. Group C, 2014-2017, 168 cases: sex equality, 37% infants, 25% gynecology; pulmonary disease was the cause of death in 24% of cases; and there was a discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis in 58% of cases. Group D, 2018-2021, 184 cases: 56% male, 38% adult, 32% gynecology; pulmonary disease was the cause of death in 27% of cases; and there was a discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis in 58% of cases.
CONCLUSION
The study of hospital autopsies reveals a 56.75% discrepancy between clinical diagnosis and autopsy, highlighting the importance of autopsies, especially for fetal and neonatal diseases, which represent 59% of cases.
Core Tip: The hospital autopsy is useful in the modern age, especially for the diagnosis of fetal and neonatal pathologies. Genetic and non-genetic diagnoses are important to future parents for subsequent pregnancies and can thus be studied.
