necropsy
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autopsy
[aw´top-se]examination of a body after death to determine the cause of death; it may be ordered by a coroner or medical examiner when the cause of death is unknown or the death has taken place under suspicious circumstances. Autopsies are also valuable sources of medical knowledge. Unless it is demanded by public authorities, an autopsy cannot be performed without permission of the next of kin of the deceased. Called also postmortem examination and necropsy.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
au·top·sy
(aw'top-sē), Avoid the mispronunciation autop'sy.1. An examination of the organs of a dead body to determine the cause of death or to study the pathologic changes present. Synonym(s): necropsy
2. In the terminology of the ancient Greek school of empirics, the intentional reproduction of an effect, event, or circumstance that occurred in the course of a disease, and observation of its influence in ameliorating or aggravating the patient's symptoms.
Synonym(s): postmortem examination
[G. autopsia, seeing with one's own eyes]
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
necropsy
(nĕk′rŏp′sē)n. pl. necrop·sies
See autopsy.
nec′rop′sy v.
The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
autopsy
A postmortem examination of a body, which helps determine cause of death and identify any diseases that had not been detected while the patient was alive, or which confirms the presence of conditions diagnosed before the patient died.Autopsy types
• Biopsy only—A minimalist postmortem examination in which the prosector examines the organs, but only samples small fragments (biopsies) for histologic examination.
• Chest only—An autopsy in which only the lungs and heart are examined; findings in a chest only autopsy are used to ID an occluding thrombus in the coronary arteries, massive patientE, or evaluate a person for compensation under the Black Lung Compensation act of 1969.
• Complete—An autopsy in which the thoracic, abdominal and cranial cavities are examined.
• Head only—An autopsy in which the pathology of interest is presumed to reside entirely in the cranial cavity.
• No head—An autopsy examining the chest and abdominal cavity without cranial cavity.
Infections (potentially fatal) that may pass to prosectors
Blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, diphtheria, erysipeloid, HBV (30% of seroconversion with infected blood exposure), HCV (up to 10% risk), HIV (0.3% risk), lymphocytic choriomeningitis, rabies, streptococci, TB (exposures as brief as 10 minutes have resulted in transmission; 10% of Finnish pathologists in active PM practice have occupational TB; autopsy-transmitted outbreaks of TB have occurred in NY, LA, Chicago and Arkansas), tularaemia, viral haemorrhagic fevers (Marburg, Ebola, Lassa), yellow fever. Two cases of possible transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to histology technicians (not autopsy prosectors) have been reported.
Segen's Medical Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
necropsy
Postmortem examination. See Autopsy.McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
au·top·sy
(aw'top-sē)An examination of a corpse and the organs of a dead body to determine the cause of death or to study the pathologic changes present. (Colloquially called postmortem or post.)
Synonym(s): necropsy.
Synonym(s): necropsy.
[G. autopsia, seeing with one's own eyes]
Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012
necropsy
An autopsy, or postmortem examination, of a body.Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005