Pathological analysis of cadavers for educational dissection by using postmortem imaging

This study was performed primarily to clarify whether pathological analysis of cadavers for anatomical dissection is possible using postmortem imaging (PMI), and whether this is worthwhile. A total of 33 cadavers that underwent systematic anatomical dissection at our medical school also underwent PMI. Fixative solution was injected into the corpus 3–4 days after death. PMI was then performed using an 8‐slice multi‐detector CT scanner 3 months before dissection. Before dissection, a conference was held to discuss the findings of the PMI. First, two radiologists read the postmortem images without any medical information and deduced the immediate cause of death. Then, the anatomy instructor revealed the medical information available. Based on this information, the radiologist, anatomy instructor, and pathologists suggested candidate sampling sites for pathological examination. On the last day of the dissection period, the pathologists resected the sample tissues and processed them for pathological examination. In 12 of 33 cases, the presumed causes of death could be determined based on PMI alone, and revision of the cause of death described in the death certificate was considered in five (15.2%) cases, based on PMI and pathological analysis. This article presents a novel method of pathological analysis of cadavers for anatomical dissection using PMI without disturbing the anatomy education of medical students.