The value of autopsies in the era of high-tech medicine: Discrepant findings persist

Journal of Clinical Pathology

Volumn 67, Issue 6, 2014, Pages 512-519

  Kuijpers, Chantal C H J ^a   Fronczek, Judith ^a,b   Van De Goot, Frank R W ^a   Niessen, Hans W M ^b,c   Van Diest, Paul J ^d   Jiwa, Mehdi ^a  

^a Medical Centre Alkmaar   (Netherlands)

^b VU UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER   (Netherlands)

^c VU UNIVERSITY AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

^d UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER UTRECHT   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACUTE PANCREATITIS; ADULT; AGED; ANEURYSM RUPTURE; AORTA DISSECTION; AORTOESOPHAGEAL FISTULA; ARTICLE; AUTOPSY; BENIGN TUMOR; BLEEDING; CAUSE OF DEATH; CHOLELITHIASIS; COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC ANGIOGRAPHY; CONTROLLED STUDY; CYST; DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING; DIAGNOSTIC VALUE; DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS; DIGESTIVE SYSTEM PERFORATION; DIVERTICULOSIS; FEMALE; HEART INFARCTION; HUMAN; HUMAN TISSUE; LUNG ANGIOGRAPHY; LUNG EMBOLISM; MALE; MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY; MICROSCOPY; MYCOSIS; NEPHROLITHIASIS; NODULAR GOITER; PNEUMONIA; POLYP; PRIORITY JOURNAL; THORAX RADIOGRAPHY;

AUTOPSY PATHOLOGY; HISTOPATHOLOGY; POSTMORTEM; QUALITY CONTROL; SAFETY;

ADULT; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; AUTOPSY; BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY; CAUSE OF DEATH; DIAGNOSTIC ERRORS; DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING; DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MICROSCOPY; MIDDLE AGED; NETHERLANDS; PREDICTIVE VALUE OF TESTS; RETROSPECTIVE STUDIES; RISK FACTORS; TIME FACTORS; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84901654370     PISSN: 00219746     EISSN: 14724146     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1136/jclinpath-2013-202122     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. Graber M. Diagnostic errors in medicine: a case of neglect. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2005;31:106-13.
2. Shojania KG, Burton EC, McDonald KM, et al. Changes in rates of autopsy-detected diagnostic errors over time: a systematic review. JAMA 2003;289:2849-56. (Pubitemid 37430121)
3. Wittschieber D, Klauschen F, Kimmritz AC, et al. Who is at risk for diagnostic discrepancies? Comparison of pre- and postmortal diagnoses in 1800 patients of 3 medical decades in East and West Berlin. PLoS ONE 2012;7:e37460.
4. Shojania KG, Burton EC. The vanishing nonforensic autopsy. N Engl J Med 2008;358:873-5. (Pubitemid 351397086)
5. Chariot P, Witt K, Pautot V, et al. Declining autopsy rate in a French hospital: physician's attitudes to the autopsy and use of autopsy material in research publications. Arch Pathol Lab Med 2000;124:739-45. (Pubitemid 30321880)
6. Loughrey MB, McCluggage WG, Toner PG. The declining autopsy rate and clinicians ' attitudes. Ulster Med J 2000;69:83-9. (Pubitemid 33621339)
7. Klok FA, Mos IC, Kroft LJ, et al. Computed tomography pulmonary angiography as a single imaging test to rule out pulmonary embolism. Curr Opin Pulm Med 2011;17:380-6.
8. Goldman L, Sayson R, Robbins S, et al. The value of the autopsy in three medical eras. N Engl J Med 1983;308:1000-5. (Pubitemid 13118705)
9. Battle RM, Pathak D, Humble CG, et al. Factors infl uencing discrepancies between premortem and postmortem diagnoses. JAMA 1987;258:339-44. (Pubitemid 17091697)
10. Schwanda-Burger S, Moch H, Muntwyler J, et al. Diagnostic errors in the new millennium: a follow-up autopsy study. Mod Pathol 2012;25:777-83.
11. Fronczek J, Hollingbury F, Biggs M, et al. The role of histology in forensic autopsies. Is a histological examination always necessary to determine a cause of death? Forensic Sci Med Pathol 2014;10:39-43.
12. Kotovicz F, Mauad T, Saldiva PH. Clinico-pathological discrepancies in a general university hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Clinics (Sao Paulo) 2008;63:581-8.
13. Scordi-Bello IA, Kalb TH, Lento PA. Clinical setting and extent of premortem evaluation do not predict autopsy discrepancy rates. Mod Pathol 2010;23:1225-30.
14. Burgesser MV, Camps D, Calafat P, et al. Discrepancies between clinical diagnoses and autopsy findings. Medicina (B Aires) 2011;71:135-8.
15. Fares AF, Cury PM, Lobo SM. Clinical-pathological discrepancies in critically ill patients with difficult premortem diagnoses. Rev Bras Ter Intensiva 2011;23:442-7.
16. Podbregar M, Kralj E, Cicak R, et al. A triad algorithm for analysing individual anteand post-mortem findings to improve the quality of intensive care. Anaesth Intensive Care 2011;39:1086-92.
17. Tejerina E, Esteban A, Fernandez-Segoviano P, et al. Clinical diagnoses and autopsy findings: discrepancies in critically ill patients*. Crit Care Med 2012;40:842-6.
18. Frohlich S, Ryan O, Murphy N, et al. Are autopsy findings still relevant to the management of critically ill patients in the modern era? Crit Care Med 2014;42:336-43.
19. De Vlieger GY, Mahieu EM, Meersseman W. Clinical review: what is the role for autopsy in the ICU? Crit Care 2010;14:221.
20. Cameron HM, McGoogan E, Watson H. Necropsy: a yardstick for clinical diagnoses. Br Med J 1980;281:985-8. (Pubitemid 10018833)
21. Landefeld CS, Chren MM, Myers A, et al. Diagnostic yield of the autopsy in a university hospital and a community hospital. N Engl J Med 1988;318:1249-54.
22. Podbregar M, Voga G, Krivec B, et al. Should we confirm our clinical diagnostic certainty by autopsies? Intensive Care Med 2001;27:1750-5. (Pubitemid 33139836)
23. Berner ES, Graber ML. Overconfidence as a cause of diagnostic error in medicine. Am J Med 2008;121:S2-23.
24. Combes A, Mokhtari M, Couvelard A, et al. Clinical and autopsy diagnoses in the intensive care unit: a prospective study. Arch Intern Med 2004;164:389-92. (Pubitemid 38240702)
25. Perkins GD, McAuley DF, Davies S, et al. Discrepancies between clinical and postmortem diagnoses in critically ill patients: an observational study. Crit Care 2003;7:R129-32.
26. Vadillo M, Pujol RP, Corbella X, et al. Improvements in clinical diagnostic accuracy after a 5-year systematic analysis of clinical and autopsy discrepancies. Arch Pathol Lab Med 2006;130:1261-2. (Pubitemid 44373058)
27. Thurnheer R, Hoess C, Doenecke C, et al. Diagnostic performance in a primary referral hospital assessed by autopsy: evolution over a ten-year period. Eur J Intern Med 2009;20:784-7.
28. Winters B, Custer J, Galvagno SM Jr, et al. Diagnostic errors in the intensive care unit: a systematic review of autopsy studies. BMJ Qual Saf 2012;21:894-902.
29. Gibson TN, Shirley SE, Escoffery CT, et al. Discrepancies between clinical and postmortem diagnoses in Jamaica: a study from the University Hospital of the West Indies. J Clin Pathol 2004;57:980-5. (Pubitemid 39208252)
30. Zarling EJ, Sexton H, Milnor P Jr. Failure to diagnose acute myocardial infarction. The clinicopathologic experience at a large community hospital. JAMA 1983;250:1177-81. (Pubitemid 13043874)
31. Kannel WB, Abbott RD. Incidence and prognosis of unrecognized myocardial infarction. An update on the Framingham study. N Engl J Med 1984;311:1144-7. (Pubitemid 14012581)
32. Ryu JH, Olson EJ, Pellikka PA. Clinical recognition of pulmonary embolism: problem of unrecognized and asymptomatic cases. Mayo Clin Proc 1998;73:873-9. (Pubitemid 28411331)
33. Roulson J, Benbow EW, Hasleton PS. Discrepancies between clinical and autopsy diagnosis and the value of post mortem histology; a meta-analysis and review. Histopathology 2005;47:551-9. (Pubitemid 41775176)
34. Zaitoun AM, Fernandez C. The value of histological examination in the audit of hospital autopsies: a quantitative approach. Pathology 1998;30:100-4. (Pubitemid 28211779)
35. Bernardi FD, Saldiva PH, Mauad T. Histological examination has a major impact on macroscopic necropsy diagnoses. J Clin Pathol 2005;58:1261-4. (Pubitemid 41752769)
36. Hunt CR, Benbow EW, Knox WF, et al. Can histopathologists diagnose bronchopneumonia? J Clin Pathol 1995;48:120-3.
37. Jarman B, Bottle A, Aylin P, et al. Monitoring changes in hospital standardised mortality ratios. BMJ 2005;330:329.
38. Jarman B, Pieter D, van der Veen AA, et al. The hospital standardised mortality ratio: a powerful tool for Dutch hospitals to assess their quality of care? Qual Saf Health Care 2010;19:9-13.
39. Mort TC, Yeston NS. The relationship of pre mortem diagnoses and post mortem findings in a surgical intensive care unit. Crit Care Med 1999;27:299-303. (Pubitemid 29113538)
40. Maris C, Martin B, Creteur J, et al. Comparison of clinical and post-mortem findings in intensive care unit patients. Virchows Arch 2007;450:329-33. (Pubitemid 46376564)
41. Tavora F, Crowder CD, Sun CC, et al. Discrepancies between clinical and autopsy diagnoses: a comparison of university, community, and private autopsy practices. Am J Clin Pathol 2008;129:102-9. (Pubitemid 352038600)
42. Wichmann D, Obbelode F, Vogel H, et al . Virtual autopsy as an alternative to traditional medical autopsy in the intensive care unit: a prospective cohort study. Ann Intern Med 2012;156:123-30.
43. Roberts IS, Benamore RE, Benbow EW, et al. Post-mortem imaging as an alternative to autopsy in the diagnosis of adult deaths: a validation study. Lancet 2012;379:136-42.
44. Weustink AC, Hunink MG, van Dijke CF, et al. Minimally invasive autopsy: an alternative to conventional autopsy? Radiology 2009;250:897-904.
45. Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. JAMA 1998;279:1200-5. (Pubitemid 28193431)
46. Valenstein PN. Formatting pathology reports: applying four design principles to improve communication and patient safety. Arch Pathol Lab Med 2008;132:84-94.
47. van den Tweel JG. Autopsy pathology should become a recognised subspecialty. Virchows Arch 2008;452:585-7.
48. Waters BL. Ensuring quality in the hospital autopsy. In: Waters BL, ed. Handbook of autopsy practice. Humana Press, 2009:3-8.
49. Siebert JR. Increasing the efficiency of autopsy reporting. Arch Pathol Lab Med 2009;133:1932-7.