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Autopsy exam

Autopsy exam is a necessity for a trainee anatomic pathologist to pass the final exam, but it is quite a pain to study for it.  I found some brief notes (and possible exam questions) to survive the exam.


  1. Assessment:
    • History
    • Gross findings
    • Dissect all organs
    • Make sure dissection area is clean.
    • Cause of death and correlation.
  2. How does one diagnose pneumothorax on autopsy?
  3. Dissect out the circle of Willis.
  4. How to measure ventricular thickness.
    • Answer: 1 cm below the atrioventricular valve
  5. How to differentiate between kidney abscess and pyonephrosis.
    • Kidney abscess is usually located at the renal cortex.
  6. How to take swabs (from any sites)
  7. How to take blood samples.
    • Answer: from femoral vein or right atrium.
  8. How to take urine sample.
    • Answer: suprapubic
  9. Spleen may also show hyaline arteriosclerosis, like kidneys (hypertensive change).
  10. Renal papillary necrosis is common in diabetes mellitus.
  11. ARDS (adult respiratory distress syndrome) is a manifestation of shock changes in the lung.
  12. Other organs' manifestations of shock changes.
    • Liver: centrilobular necrosis
    • Brain: loss of neurons at the hippocampus, etc.
  13. Paediatric patients may also manifest hypertensive changes in the lung, especially those with congenital heart disease.

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