Autopsy - Who's going to watch it
21 November 2002, 04:51 PM
#31
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Sounds like what he did was DISSECTION, which we performed at medical school to help learn anatomy, on a formaldehyde-preserved body.
A true post mortem would not be preserved, the body is examined in the state it was found, as soon as possible - in order to ascertain cause of death accurately. These are far more gruesome, the body looks far more real, especially if recently deceased. It is particularly shocking if it is a child.
A true post mortem would not be preserved, the body is examined in the state it was found, as soon as possible - in order to ascertain cause of death accurately. These are far more gruesome, the body looks far more real, especially if recently deceased. It is particularly shocking if it is a child.
21 November 2002, 04:58 PM
#32
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No, it was definitely a post-mortem, despite being incorrectly described as a dissection in most of the press. The difference is that a dissection involves examination of all parts of the body, including muscle, bone, etc. Whereas a post-mortem is an examination of just teh internal organs (torso and brain).
The body was preserved because the donor had expressly asked for his body to be donated to medical science for this purpose before he died. The chemical fixation has no bearing on whether it's a dissection or post-mortem though.
The body was preserved because the donor had expressly asked for his body to be donated to medical science for this purpose before he died. The chemical fixation has no bearing on whether it's a dissection or post-mortem though.
21 November 2002, 05:58 PM
#33
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The post mortem is primarily to ascertain the cause of death....
The boby was fixed in formalin for a fair bit of time before the program...!! formalin takes 1 hour to travel 1mm into tissue, an interesting fact..
.. i know this as i used to work in histopathology at my local hospital as a biomedical scientist and used to recieve all sorts of interesting organs...!
The thing i thougth about the program last night was people will go away from that thinking they may be able to view a post mortum with no problem, but what you saw last was as far away as possible from a 'real' one where the body is not formalin fixed... it is a different kettle of fish believe me..!
When a consultant histopathologist performs a post mortem they try to carry it out as soon as possible so the tissues are in the same state as when the person died...
Oh, and a post mortum can involve bones and muscles, for instance if a the person was found to have a carcinoma of the muscle (myosarcoma) then the histpathologist would take tissue from this area to confim the stage of malignancy, and would present this in the post mortum report e.t.c
Dan
[Edited by dhorwich - 11/21/2002 6:09:04 PM]
The boby was fixed in formalin for a fair bit of time before the program...!! formalin takes 1 hour to travel 1mm into tissue, an interesting fact..
.. i know this as i used to work in histopathology at my local hospital as a biomedical scientist and used to recieve all sorts of interesting organs...!The thing i thougth about the program last night was people will go away from that thinking they may be able to view a post mortum with no problem, but what you saw last was as far away as possible from a 'real' one where the body is not formalin fixed... it is a different kettle of fish believe me..!
When a consultant histopathologist performs a post mortem they try to carry it out as soon as possible so the tissues are in the same state as when the person died...
Oh, and a post mortum can involve bones and muscles, for instance if a the person was found to have a carcinoma of the muscle (myosarcoma) then the histpathologist would take tissue from this area to confim the stage of malignancy, and would present this in the post mortum report e.t.c
Dan
[Edited by dhorwich - 11/21/2002 6:09:04 PM]
21 November 2002, 07:47 PM
#35
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Having taken part in dissection of 2 cadavers over a 2 year
period, and also numerous PM's, I can tell you NO PM occurs on a fixated cadaver. As I said it would obscure many more subtle causes of death.
A full PM is extremely comprehensive and not limited to brain and internals, the skin and musculo-skeletal system are examined and described in the pathologist's report in detail too, for example.
A Dissection can be as small as a the route of a tiny blood vessel, or nerve - microscopic in fact. It has nothing to do with the extent of the work. It can occur on live subjects - a surgeon dissects out a cancer for instance.
period, and also numerous PM's, I can tell you NO PM occurs on a fixated cadaver. As I said it would obscure many more subtle causes of death.
A full PM is extremely comprehensive and not limited to brain and internals, the skin and musculo-skeletal system are examined and described in the pathologist's report in detail too, for example.
A Dissection can be as small as a the route of a tiny blood vessel, or nerve - microscopic in fact. It has nothing to do with the extent of the work. It can occur on live subjects - a surgeon dissects out a cancer for instance.
22 November 2002, 04:49 AM
#36
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Only saw a bit of it last night so cant really comment on it all but as a forensic scientist a large part of my degree invloved this type of analysis.
zoog
In regards to your statement on dissection -'It has nothing to do with the extent of the work'. Wrong!!! It has everything to do with it. Obviously last night on television they just did a brief autopsy for public viewing and educational purposes, but if it were an in depth investigation such a medicolegal autopsy it may involve alot more probing of factors which may or maynot be involved etc in order to assertain the Cause, Manner and Mode of Death.
The definition of postmortem examination: the dissection of a dead body to determine the cause of death.
zoog
In regards to your statement on dissection -'It has nothing to do with the extent of the work'. Wrong!!! It has everything to do with it. Obviously last night on television they just did a brief autopsy for public viewing and educational purposes, but if it were an in depth investigation such a medicolegal autopsy it may involve alot more probing of factors which may or maynot be involved etc in order to assertain the Cause, Manner and Mode of Death.
The definition of postmortem examination: the dissection of a dead body to determine the cause of death.
22 November 2002, 08:25 AM
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scrappy do
No, "dissection" can be extremely limited or large and comprehensive: it merely refers to the cutting and separating of tissues to demonstrate phsyical anatomical structures, both normal or pathological, large or small. It occurs therefore in post mortems, all surgical operations and medical school training Dissections of entire cadavers. Each week for instance we would dissect out a certain anatomical structure, pathway or region, and eventually over the course of the year, the entire body was demonstrated. If we had stopped after week one, the anterior chest wall, and did no more, it would still be called a dissection of the anterior chest wall.
But it is just semantics at the end of the day.
No, "dissection" can be extremely limited or large and comprehensive: it merely refers to the cutting and separating of tissues to demonstrate phsyical anatomical structures, both normal or pathological, large or small. It occurs therefore in post mortems, all surgical operations and medical school training Dissections of entire cadavers. Each week for instance we would dissect out a certain anatomical structure, pathway or region, and eventually over the course of the year, the entire body was demonstrated. If we had stopped after week one, the anterior chest wall, and did no more, it would still be called a dissection of the anterior chest wall.
But it is just semantics at the end of the day.
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