minimally invasive autopsy
minimally invasive autopsy
A generic term for a postmortem examination in which there is minimal to no disruption of major body cavities, e.g., by using CT, MRI, laparoscopy and needle biopsies.Minimally invasive autopsy formats
Minimally intrusive
• External examination only;
• Patient history from clinician and examination of medical records;
• Verbal autopsy.
Imaging “autopsies”
• MRI autopsy;
• CT autopsy.
Minimally invasive
• Aspiration of blood, urine, cytology, etc., for analysis;
• Multiple percutaneous needle biopsies after death (“blind biopsies”);
• Lapraroscopic and thorascopic investigation with tissue sampling;
• Mini-autopsy—extensive organ sampling or removal via a limited incision (e.g., a 15-cm upper abdominal wall incision).