[Autopsies with unsatisfactory results].

Autopsies are intended to provide information about the main disease process and the cause of death, and also to disclose relevant secondary findings. A review of 3076 autopsy protocols yielded 113 cases (3.7%) with unsatisfactory results. Of these, 56% constituted a first group in which substantial findings concerning the underlying disease or cause of death were absent. Most often they were cases of sudden death; in many others, however, diseases of obvious duration but uncertain nature were not manifest pathologically. In the second group, representing 44%, the morphologic findings contributed by autopsy did little to clarify the clinical picture. Here the large majority were cancer patients, while other clinical pictures were only rarely left unexplained. In half of all cases the case of such autopsy failures relates to the limitations of the procedure itself as a method of morphologic examination. In about 35% a delayed autopsy, the restricted application of modern investigation methods and, not infrequently, superficial information by the clinician may well play a significant role. The remaining 15% of all cases incorporate all the above-mentioned factors in yielding unsatisfactory results. If justice is to be done to ever-increasing demands, the development of pathology specialties with a corresponding increase in staff cannot be avoided.