ABSTRACT
Hospital autopsy rates have been declining since the 1950s, prompting concerns about the impact on clinical audit, medical education and research. This chapter focuses on the status of the autopsy and then draws attention to some recent advances that could be developed further to enhance the clinical utility and the public acceptability of autopsies. Autopsies are unrivalled as an educational tool for teaching by clinicopathological correlation. The impact of witnessing the morbid anatomical features of disease is potent and enduring. Because of personal, religious or cultural objections to the autopsy by dissection and the stressful nature, even for doctors, of seeking consent at a time of bereavement, non-invasive autopsy by imaging is being evaluated. A limited autopsy may be problem-oriented by focusing on the organ or body cavity in which there is the greatest clinical interest. The autopsy has an important potential role in assessing the effectiveness and side-effects of gene therapy.
