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Postmortem CT is more accurate than clinical diagnosis for identifying the immediate cause of death in hospitalized patients: a prospective autopsy-based study.

ABSTRACT: Despite 75 to 90 % physician accuracy in determining the underlying cause of death, precision of determination of the immediate cause of death is approximately 40 %. In contrast, two thirds of immediate causes of death in hospitalized patients are correctly diagnosed by postmortem computed tomography (CT). Postmortem CT might provide an alternative approach to verifying the immediate cause of death. To evaluate the effectiveness of postmortem CT as an alternative method to determine the immediate cause of death in hospitalized patients, an autopsy-based prospective study was performed. Of 563 deaths from September 2011 to August 2013, 50 consecutive cadavers undergoing hospital autopsies with consent for additional postmortem CT at the University of Fukui were enrolled. The accuracy of determination of the immediate cause of death by postmortem CT was evaluated in these patients. Diagnostic discrepancy was also compared between radiologists and attending physicians. The immediate cause of death was correctly diagnosed in 37 of 50 subjects using postmortem CT (74 %), concerning 29 cases of respiratory failure, 4 of hemorrhage, 3 of liver failure and 1 of septic shock. Six cases of organ failure involving 13 patients were not identified as the cause of death by postmortem CT. Regarding the immediate cause of death, accuracy of clinical diagnosis was significantly lower than that of postmortem CT (46 vs 74 %, P < 0.01). Postmortem CT may be more useful than clinical diagnosis for identifying the immediate cause of death in hospitalized patients not undergoing autopsy.

SUBMITTER: Inai K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4923108 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Postmortem CT is more accurate than clinical diagnosis for identifying the immediate cause of death in hospitalized patients: a prospective autopsy-based study.

Inai Kunihiro K Noriki Sakon S Kinoshita Kazuyuki K Sakai Toyohiko T Kimura Hirohiko H Nishijima Akihiko A Iwasaki Hiromichi H Naiki Hironobu H

Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology 20160416 1

Despite 75 to 90 % physician accuracy in determining the underlying cause of death, precision of determination of the immediate cause of death is approximately 40 %. In contrast, two thirds of immediate causes of death in hospitalized patients are correctly diagnosed by postmortem computed tomography (CT). Postmortem CT might provide an alternative approach to verifying the immediate cause of death. To evaluate the effectiveness of postmortem CT as an alternative method to determine the immediat ...[more]

PMID: 27085336

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Project description:ObjectivesTo determine the diagnostic accuracy of postmortem magnetic resonance imaging (PM-MRI) and postmortem ultrasound (PM-US) for perinatal autopsy in the same patient cohort, and to determine whether PM-US can provide the same anatomical information as PM-MRI.MethodsIn this prospective, 5-year (July 2014-July 2019) single-center study, we performed 1.5-T PM-MRI and PM-US in an unselected cohort of perinatal deaths. The diagnostic accuracies of both modalities were calculated, using autopsy as the reference standard. As a secondary objective, the concordance rates between the two imaging modalities for the overall main diagnosis and for five anatomical regions (brain, spine, thorax, heart and abdomen) were calculated.ResultsDuring the study period, 136 cases underwent both PM-US and PM-MRI, of which 88 (64.7%) also underwent autopsy. There was no significant difference in the rates of concordance with autopsy between the two modalities for overall diagnosis (PM-US, 86.4% (95% CI, 77.7-92.0%) vs PM-MRI, 88.6% (95% CI, 80.3-93.7%)) or in the sensitivities and specificities for individual anatomical regions. There were more non-diagnostic PM-US than PM-MRI examinations for the brain (22.8% vs 3.7%) and heart (14.7% vs 5.1%). If an 'imaging-only' autopsy had been performed, PM-US would have achieved the same diagnosis as 1.5-T PM-MRI in 86.8% (95% CI, 80.0-91.5%) of cases, with the highest rates of agreement being for spine (99.3% (95% CI, 95.9-99.9%)) and cardiac (97.3% (95% CI, 92.4-99.1%)) findings and the lowest being for brain diagnoses (85.2% (95% CI, 76.9-90.8%)).ConclusionAlthough there were fewer non-diagnostic cases using PM-MRI than for PM-US, the high concordance rate for overall diagnosis suggests that PM-US could be used for triaging cases when PM-MRI access is limited or unavailable. © 2020 The Authors. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dataset Information

Postmortem CT is more accurate than clinical diagnosis for identifying the immediate cause of death in hospitalized patients: a prospective autopsy-based study.

Publications

Postmortem CT is more accurate than clinical diagnosis for identifying the immediate cause of death in hospitalized patients: a prospective autopsy-based study.

Similar Datasets

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