Post Mortem Technique Handbook

Post Mortem Technique Handbook Springer-Verlag London Ltd. Michael T. Sheaff, Deborah J. Hopster Post Mortem Technique Handbook Foreword by Professor Sir Colin Berry With 56 Figures , Springer Michael T. Sheaff, BSc MB, BS, MRCPath Consultant Histopathologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer Department of Morbid Anatomy and Histopathology, Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, London, El IBB Deborah J. Hopster, BSc, MBChB, MRCPath Consultant Histopathologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer Department of Histopathology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SES 9RS ISBN 978-1-4471-3679-8 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Sheaff, Michael T. Post mortem technique handbook 1.Autopsy - Handbooks, manuals, etc. I.Title II.Hopster, D. J. 616'.0759 ISBN 978-1-4471-3679-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sheaff, Michael T., 1965Post mortem technique handbook / Michael T. Sheaff, D.J. Hopster. p.;cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-4471-3679-8 ISBN 978-1-4471-3677-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4471-3677-4 1.Autopsy-Handbooks, manuals, etc. I.Hopster, D. J. 1966- II. Title. [DNLM: 1. Autopsy-methods-Handbooks. 2. Pathology-Handbooks. 3. Postmortem Changes-Handbooks QZ 35 S539p 2000] RB57.S43 2000 616.07'59-dc21 00-032982 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. © Springer-Verlag London 2001 Originally published by Springer-Verlag London Berlin Heidelberg in 2001 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 2001 The use of registered names, trademarks etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. Typesetting by EXPO Holdings, Malaysia 34/3830-543210 Printed on acid-free paper SPIN 10682008 DEDICATIONS To mum, Mike and especially to Andrew. DJH To Sue, Tim, Emma and mum, but particularly my father Peter, who sadly died during the preparation of this book. MTS Foreword The relentless decline in the hospital based autopsy has been documented elsewhere in detail and has been generally deplored as a loss of an important method of "quality control" at a time when the practise of Medicine is closely scrutinised. This is not the place to revisit these well-rehearsed arguments but the change itself provides a powerful justification for the production of this book. The decrease in clinically requested autopsies in hospitals leaves a large and increasing number of Coronial autopsies to be done; many of these in circumstances of discontent with some aspect of the medical or other management of the events which ultimately lead to death. The pathologists now performing these autopsies will not have had the amount of experience that was commonplace among their predecessors; an experience of carrying out procedures which, although devised for different purposes, can provide a more complete examination of the whole body than often appears necessary in straightforward deaths in the community. In my first two years in Pathology I performed 200 autopsies; most of my contemporaries w