...The Conventional Autopsy still has an Important Role in Modern Medicine RACHNA BAJAJ INTRODUCTION Human dissection has historically been carried out in search for humours, worms, miasmas and divine spells to explain what caused illness and death. However, as ‘scientific’ thinking advanced, there was a desire to understand disease based on the empirical evidence obtained from post-mortem examinations.1 This gave birth to one of the most important gold standards of diagnosis, a great tool for medical audit and probably the best teaching method of medicine – the autopsy. The words ‘autopsy’, ‘necropsy’ and ‘post-mortem examination’ are synonymous with each other and refer to the investigation of the human body involving an external examination followed by the dissections of the head, thorax and the abdomen. The word autopsy literally means ‘to see for oneself’. Autopsy rates in the United Kingdom (UK) currently stand at 21.9%, out of which only 0.4% are not requested by a coroner and the most common request for an autopsy occurs in cases of unexpected deaths where the cause is not apparent. Autopsies are also carried out for determination of manner of death, evaluation of ante-mortem and post-mortem diagnosis, epidemiological purposes, survey outbreaks, medical audit, research, teaching, forensic purposes and to enlighten/reassure families or inform then of hereditary diseases. Despite the well-recognised importance of autopsies in twenty-first century medicine...
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...Clinical Laboratory Science 1. What is the scope of practice for the designated health profession? If there are assistants or technicians within the profession, please include their scope of practice as well. * Medical Laboratory professionals, as members of the healthcare team, contribute to the prevention of disease, and the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of pathophysiological conditions in humans. Medical laboratory personnel are responsible for assuring reliable and accurate laboratory test results. 2. In what settings might this professional work? * Clinical laboratory technicians can work in a variety of settings, such as hospitals, for-profit laboratories, clinical, nursing homes, public health facilities, private laboratories, doctors' offices, research, sales and commercial laboratories. 3. If there are areas of specialization for this profession, please list and describe at least 3. Do these specializations require further education or credentialing? Education depends on area of specialization. Clinical Laboratory Scientist programs can range from certificate level to doctoral level. For positions as Blood Bank Technologists, Medical Technologists, Cytotechnologist and Histotechnologists, a bachelor’s degree is the minimum requirement. Some of the areas of specialization in this field include: * Blood Bank Technology Specialist: A Blood Bank Technology Specialist is responsible for performing and supervising routine and specialized...
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...breast showing signs like red scaly patch on skin, inverted nipple which is also a sign of breast cancer and a lump on a breast which is the most common symptom in today’s world. There is also a mammographic picture of a normal breast and a breast with cancer. Wikipedia also has information on the life style, how excessive smoking and consumption of alcohol leads to breast cancer. I did not have the knowledge that being exposed to radiation or doing shift work could also lead to breast cancer until I read this information on Wikipedia. The site also consists of the processes of when cancer is diagnosed, all the procedures that are involved such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and recovery after treatment. It also explains on the Pathology side of the breast on how specimens are collected from patients like a core biopsy or a fine needle aspiration, how the specimens are tested and how the results are...
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...Patient expectation Patient expectation Treatment plan * Demonstration to patient * Drugs/systematic oral medication * Psychological support * Types of severity * Follow up: blood investigation, psoriasis lesion * Topical creams/emollient * Adverse reactions/side effects Management 1. Topical 2. Systematic 3. Phototherapy a. Narrowband UVB and PUVA b. UVA Treatment plan * Demonstration to patient * Drugs/systematic oral medication * Psychological support * Types of severity * Follow up: blood investigation, psoriasis lesion * Topical creams/emollient * Adverse reactions/side effects Management 4. Topical 5. Systematic 6. Phototherapy c. Narrowband UVB and PUVA d. UVA Diagnosis * Prognosis * Cure rate * Quality of life * Further investigation Differential diagnosis * Good investigation – biopsy Diagnosis * Prognosis * Cure rate * Quality of life * Further investigation Differential diagnosis * Good investigation – biopsy Summary and results * Quality of life * Other scores * Symptomatic relief Summary and results * Quality of life * Other scores * Symptomatic relief Follow up Evaluation at 3 months and 6 months Follow up Evaluation at 3 months and 6 months Consultation * Psychological support * Prognosis * Stress and life style management Consultation * Psychological support * Prognosis * Stress and...
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...Forensic Autopsy Name Institution Course Date Deaths resulting from blunt force trauma are the most common cases in forensic autopsy. However, it is imperative to note that some factors contribute to the actual death of the victim, leading to a contradiction of whether the cause of death was sharp force or blunt trauma related. For instance, a patient hospitalised after having had a car accident and died three weeks after hospitalization, having caught pneumonia would likely give the results that the patient died out of pneumonia. However, such is not the case. In the forensic autopsy, the cause of death should be categorised as blunt force trauma, categorically belonging to the cause “accident” (Prahlow, 2010). Therefore, because of the contradictions that occur in such autopsies, it is paramount to take note of the differences exhibited by blunt force trauma wounds and sharp force trauma injuries. Injuries caused by blunt force have the following characteristics. Firstly, blunt force inflicted wounds have abrasions on the skin epithelium. This arises as the result of the sliding force between the surface and the blunt objects, pressure or compression (Prahlow, 2010). Secondly, such injuries might show patterned abrasions, the phenomenon in which the wounds pattern is transferred to the intermediary between the skin and the blunt object, such as clothes. These forms of wounds can be used to identify weapons as the sources of blunt trauma injuries...
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...Industry Insight – Indian Diagnostic & Pathology Test Laboratory Indian Diagnostic & Pathology Test Laboratory Industry Insight April 2009 4th & 5th Floors, Astral Heights, Road No. 1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad-500034, India Tel: +91-40-23430203-05, Fax: +91-40-23430201, E-mail: info@cygnusindia.com Website: www.cygnusindia.com Disclaimer: All information contained in this report has been obtained from sources believed to be accurate by Cygnus Business Consulting & Research Pvt. Ltd. (Cygnus). While reasonable care has been taken in its preparation, Cygnus makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any such information. The information contained herein may be changed without notice. All information should be considered solely as statements of opinion and Cygnus will not be liable for any loss incurred by users from any use of the © Cygnus Business Consulting & Research Pvt. Ltd. 2009 2 publication or contents Industry Insight – Indian Diagnostic & Pathology Test Laboratory SYNOPSIS According to Cygnus estimates, the Indian diagnostic and pathological labs test services market was valued at Rs66.87 billion in FY2008. Indian diagnostics and pathological labs, based on the working level, are classified into high-end labs, accounting for 38% of the market share, manual labs (28%) and second-level regional labs (34%). By therapeutic segment, the major share is held by biochemistry (38%), followed by...
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...Chilblains of the feet and hands Identification of Issue Last week, we had an admission of interesting diagnosis that I have never encounter before. An 11-year-old, male patient with history of vasculitic autonomic neuropathy diagnosed at University of Michigan Hospital by nerve biopsy, presented to the ED with pain in his hands and feet for the last 2 days and flare up of "Chilblain" symptoms. No signs of swelling or change in color, no rash, no erythema, No lesion, no fever, and no change in his walking. He was admitted to the floor for IV steroid and pain management. When we received the sign-out from the ED doctor on this case; I was wondering what “chilblains” means and how I can manage it. The term chilblains is a descriptive word usually referring to an idiopathic medical condition, often cold-induced vasculopathy characterised by dusky red-purple nodules over skin of the hands and feet (Collins, Arnold, & Kissel, 2013). Chilblain is a clinical diagnosis; therefore, it is important to obtain a detailed history and do a comprehensive physical examination to exclude associated conditions, such as systematic disease or connective tissue disorder. Furthermore, full laboratory workup for a patient with chilblains should be done to exclude any systemic or autoimmune disorders, including the following lab tests: complete blood count with differentia, antinuclear antibody screen, cold agglutinin, cryoglobulin, cryofibrinogen and antiphospholipid antibody pane. Moreover, nerve...
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...Diagnosis means the primary dysfunction toward which the physical therapist directs treatment. The dysfunction is recognized by the physical therapist based on information obtained from the history, signs, symptoms, examination, and tests the therapist performs or requests. Clinicians implement strategies that predominantly involve the use of exercise and physical agents to change or prevent circumstance that affect patient’s life style. Choosing the most useful and least harmful strategy for a given patient is one of the clinical decisions made by the clinician daily. Establishing a physical therapy diagnosis allows the clinician to name and classify clusters of symptoms, signs, and demographic data of similar patients who have responded successfully to a specific treatment. Using the systematic process of classifying clinical data, developing categories based on the classification process, and naming categories of successfully treated patients increases the probability that the clinician will replicate or surpass the best results obtained in previous situations. Physical therapists thus must establish diagnostic categories that direct their treatment prescriptions and that provide a means of communication both within the profession and with other practitioners and consumers about the conditions that require their particular expertise for effective treatment and prognostication. Additionally, for professional credibility, physical therapists must refrain from using diagnostic...
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...on body fluids. For instance, together with clinical lab technologists, pathologists work to ensure that blood and blood products are safe. In microbiology, pathologists identify microorganisms that can cause infections – bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites – so that the most effective treatment can be selected for each particular case. An anatomic pathologist assists surgeons during operations by providing immediate diagnoses on biopsies (specially treated tissues removed in surgery and rushed to the lab). A forensic pathologist uses lab science to answer questions about evidence collected for criminal and civil cases. Other pathologists conduct research in pathology, developing new tests and new instruments to better diagnose diseases. Some pathologists devote their careers to research in pathology, developing new tests and new instruments to better diagnose diseases. Pathologists often teach their specialty to medical students and those preparing for other laboratory professions, including clinical lab technology and cytotechnology, among others. Pathologists are problem-solvers, fascinated by the process of disease and eager to unlock medical mysteries, such as AIDS and diabetes, using the sophisticated tools and methods of modern laboratory science. With...
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...Just like any other disease, pancreatic cancer must be diagnosed by a physician by doing certain tests and procedures to make sure they are diagnosed correctly. Most patients initially go to the doctor with common symptoms that may turn out to be any number of diseases that a physician has come to educate themselves about. An initial physical exam is usually followed up with things such as blood tests, x-rays or an ultrasound. If the physician were to determine that things did not look normal in one or all of these tests, a CT or computed tomography scan will be ordered. Abnormalties on a CT scan will be followed up with a biopsy to make sure a proper diagnosis is made. There is a certain blood test that can be done to help diagnose a patient with pancreatic cancer. It is called the “tumor marker” test and is also often referred to as CA 19-9. This marker is usually found in the blood of those patients with pancreatic cancer, but can also be found in patients without pancreatic cancer and those with benign conditions. This is not always a definitive way to diagnose pancreatic cancer, as the blood levels in some patients can be normal when they do in fact have pancreatic cancer. A biopsy consists of tissue that is taken from the body so that a pathologist can look at it closely. Abnormal tissues in the body may be referred to as lesions, tumors or masses. To obtain a biopsy of abnormal cells that may be on or around the pancreas, an invasive procedure would have to be done...
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...What is it? This article provides an overview of how small hospitals can maximize resources. Why is it important? Small hospitals must compete vigorously to attract and retain physicians. How do I use it? Read this and look for new articles through CAP TODAY. It’s a Small World: Making the Most of Modest Means By Karen Southwick When a laboratory instrument breaks down at Marian Medical Center, on the central coast of California, staff members roll up their sleeves to fix it because the nearest repair facility is three to four hours away, which means at least a day’s turnaround. "We have to be very good at repairing instruments ourselves and doing on-site and preventive maintenance," says Nancy Felton, laboratory manager at Marian, a 167bed hospital in Santa Maria, Calif., about equidistant from San Francisco and Los Angeles. Consequently, reliability and user-friendly maintenance and repair are key criteria in the hospital’s purchase of new or replacement instruments. "We want to be able to deal with most problems ourselves," Felton says. Marian Medical Center and other small hospitals (under 200 beds) share similar labmanagement problems: When considering new tests, these labs must justify not only the cost of the equipment, but also the space and training resources they will consume. Turnaround time and volume are also important factors. 1 Practice Management Toolkit © 2011 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. At the same time, small hospitals...
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...Dear Colleagues, Happy new year to you all. I hope you celebrated the start of 2014 in good spirits with family and friends. Now that we just passed a few days of the new year, it’s good to look ahead and think about what this year may bring us. But first, a quick look back. 2013 was quite a year for all of us at SUMMIT. We’ve been through many developments, in sometimes less than favourable circumstances. But we’ve also achieved a huge amount. Within automatic analyzer and reagents of clinical chemistry business we have made good progress: twenty new customers, getting upsales from our current clinical laboratories customers, successfully launching our new product line of chemistry reagent, and finalizing registration process at Ministry of Health of Republic of Indonesia for our future signature product which is new biomarker for monitoring diabetes, glycated albumin reagent. Within Medical Information System business, we have launched the new sales and system implementation strategy of our Laboratory Information System TD-Synergy and carefully cuted on it throughout the year. In several customers, we got upsales of new LIS modules such as Microbiology Module, Histology-Cytology Module, Blood Bank Module, and Web Module for Specimen Collection, Request and Result Management. We also had just signed a cooperation agreement as local partner for one of the top world wide Radiology Information System NovaRad. By having LIS and RIS in our product line will definitely upgrade our...
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...Ateneo de Zamboanga University College of Nursing Nursing Skills Output (NSO) Biopsy Report no.___ I. Description: A biopsy is a medical test commonly performed by a surgeon, interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiologist involving sampling of cells or tissues for examination. It is the medical removal of tissue from a living subject to determine the presence or extent of a disease. The tissue is generally examined under a microscope by a pathologist, and can also be analyzed chemically. When an entire lump or suspicious area is removed, the procedure is called an excisional biopsy. When only a sample of tissue is removed with preservation of the histological architecture of the tissue’s cells, the procedure is called an incisional biopsy or core biopsy. When a sample of tissue or fluid is removed with a needle in such a way that cells are removed without preserving the histological architecture of the tissue cells, the procedure is called a needle aspiration biopsy. Biopsies are most commonly performed for insight into possible cancerous and inflammatory conditions. II. Materials/ Equipment Needed: Clean Gloves Anesthesia (surgical biopsy) Mdication (antianxiety) Sterile eye dressing (pad), as needed, and paper eye tape to secure it Clean Gloves Anesthesia (surgical biopsy) Mdication (antianxiety) Sterile eye dressing (pad), as needed, and paper eye tape to secure it Procedures: III. Procedure Prepare the site where the biopsy is to be...
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...Maria G. Lopez 6 hrs Dear friends, I'm asking for your precious prayers. This is my story,,, Three months ago I went for my regular cleaning at the dentist office ( I go every three months to keep my teeth healthy), when the dentist went to the room to check on the hygienist work he found a brownish dark spot on the palate, flat not bumpy just a spot. he didn't know what to say and asked me if I accidentally hurt my self while brushing and of course I said no. He then took several pictures of the spot and asked me to come back in 2 weeks to check on it, and hopefully by that time he was confident the spot will be gone. Went back and the spot was still there, he could't explain the source of it and I told him that the other purple-blueish spot on my left gum I showed to him a year ago was expanding, he then got worried and told me he was going to send the pictures to his friend who is an Oral Surgeon. I waited over a month because his friend was in Guatemala in a medical mission. On December 1st I finally went to see the oral surgeon and he performed right there a biopsy of the palate and I had a cone beam test. I was told to come back for results in 2 weeks but after week and a half I was told to come back because the Oral Pathologist asked for two more biopsies from different parts of the palate so he could have a more reliable diagnose . I went back for those biopsies and waited 2 more weeks for final results. Finally on December 29, 2015 at the oral surgeon office I found out that...
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...Forensic Pathology In the many months I’ve researched Forensic Pathology, I’ve found so many roads that I have to take in order to get there. I have been pursuing this dream since my freshmen year. I found so many interesting, shocking, and yet some upsetting things. I realized that not everything is positive when it comes to choosing your career. When actually seeing, physically what Forensic Pathology really is, you’ll be shocked about it. Since reading about it and actually doing the job, it’s so different it never crossed my mind that it would be so much work. There are many steps to becoming a Forensic Pathologist. The education for it takes many years, but yet it is possible. A forensic pathologist (which is known to most people as a medical examiner), is heavily involved in the criminal justice system and medical system. The medical examiner's main job is to conduct an autopsy on the victim of any unnatural form of death. Their primary task in potential criminal cases is to find the cause of death and confirm if it was homicidal, suicidal, or an accident. They perform autopsies, write out autopsy reports, look over victim's medical records, and interview the victim's next of kin. They also have to be trained in the legal system and to be able to testify in court cases involving death or injury (“Forensic Pathology,” 2009). Most forensic pathologist start as a resident, then after residency they awarded the title medical examiner. They can continue working to deputy...
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