Study of the discrepancy between clinical diagnosis of death and autopsy findings at the "Rafael A. Calderón Guardia" Hospital
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51481/amc.v45i1.85Keywords:
Autopsia, Necropsia, Causas de defunciónAbstract
Clinical death and anatomopathologic diagnosis do notalways coincide. Certain age groups (elderly people) carrychronic and complex pathologies of difficult diagnosis andmanagement,that could mean a higher risk of discrepancy.Therefore,the knowledge of the factors involved in such dis-crepancies is of great importance to establish feedback bet-ween the two areas .The aim of this study is to know whichare the clinical diagnosis more frequently associated to dis-crepancy and to know if there is an association or not bet-ween discrepancy and specific age groups.
Methods:The magnitude of the discrepancy,its relation withage,and the most relevant pathologies were studied retros-pectively in a group of 173 autopsies performed in adults inthe year 2000. Protocols of autopsies and files of patientswe researched. The data was analyzed by the SPSSstatistical program.
Results :We found 44,8% discrepancy between the clinical diagnosis and autopsy findings. There was an associat i o n(P=0,002) and it was directly proportional to age. The patholo-gies more related to the discrepancies in descending order we-re :respiratory infections ,miocardio pathies ,and neoplasms.
Conclusions:The frequency of discrepancies,the popula-tion and etiopathogenic associations found ,show the need ofgreater supervision in those areas and specially the need forreassessment of the autopsy procedure.
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