Priyadarshini Biswal, Dilleswari Pradhan, Dibyajyoti Prusty, Susant Kumar Singh
BACKGROUND The lungs are secondarily involved in almost all forms of terminal diseases. An autopsy is mandatory to find out the state of the internal organs. This can reveal the disease that may not be suspected clinically. Total 50 medico legal autopsy cases were studied in the department of pathology, SCBMCH in collaboration with department of forensic medicine & toxicology. METHODS Various histologic patterns of pulmonary alteration relating to the identified pulmonary lesions were statistically correlated. The autopsy study was conducted by documenting the age, sex, clinical history, anthropometry, examination of thorax and gross features of the lung. RESULTS The results were compared with previous studies 45 (90%) cases showed a definite histopathology pattern. Prevalence of lung pathology was slightly higher in male as compared with female. Pulmonary lesions were examined through six pulmonary alterations namely Acute Lung Injury (ALI), Fibrosis (22%), Chronic Cellular Interstitial Infiltrate (CCII 20%), Alveolar Filling (AF 13%), formation of nodules (15%) and Near Normal Biopsy (NNB 10%) cases. Pulmonary oedema, diffuse alveolar damage & acute pulmonary congestion were included under the purview of acute lung injury (40%). Chronic interstitial lung disease accounted for 15%, pneumonia 11%, granulomatous lesion 8%, emphysema 8%, pneumoconiosis (2%) and malignancy (1.5%). 10% cases of autopsies showed no pathology. CONCLUSIONS Even though there are many diagnostic advances to detect lung pathology, more often they go unnoticed where autopsy plays an important role in identifying them.
