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1. Why is the body red?
 
 
2. How does this fit for the history?
 
 
3. What do you anticipate the subcutaneous tissue will look like under the red areas?
 
 
4. Why are there EKG leads on the body?
 
 
5. Do you think the patient received CPR?
 
 
6. What could account for the bruise in the right lower abdomen?
 
 
7. Is it likely that the bruise occurred after death?
 
 
8. How decomposed is the body?

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1. What is the yellow tissue under the skin?
 
 
2. What is making that tissue red close to the skin?
 
 
3. If you were to look under the microscope at the red area under the skin, what would you see?
 
 
4. What is a partial autopsy or a limited autopsy?
 
 
5. How would the incision differ in a “chest-only” autopsy? (Draw it out on a body sketch.)
 
 
6. As the video goes along, identify these structures: ribs, costochondral junction, pectoralis major muscle, pectoralis minor muscle, sternocleidomastoid muscle.
 
 
7. What anatomic layers are being cut (from internal to external) from 2:55 to 3:10 in the video?
 
 
8. Do you see a cause of death yet?

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1. What is the name of the scissors with the rounded end?
 
 
2. Why is the physician using this tool?
 
 
3. What is the ileocolic or ileocecal junction?
 
 
4. What is the taenia coli?
 
 
5. What is wider, the small intestine or the large intestine?
 
 
6. What is longer, the small intestine or the large intestine?
 
 
7. Has the patient had an appendectomy?
 
 
8. Identify the liver and the spleen.
 
 
9. What does “retroperitoneal” mean. What organs are retroperitoneal?
 
 
10. What are adhesions?
 
 
11. Where are this patient’s adhesions?
 
 
12. What specific anatomy is connected by adhesions here?
 
 
13. What causes adhesions?
 
 
14. Why did this patient have adhesions?
 
 
15. What problems can adhesions cause?
 
 
16. Did the adhesions cause this patient any problems?
 
 
17. Does the patient have her uterus?
 
 
18. Identify the bladder.
 
 
19. Add to the physician’s discussion: What are some differences to between an autopsy of a man and a woman?
 
 
20. Which organs appear decomposed?
 
 
21. What is the greater omentum? Identify it in the video.
 
 
22. Why did the physician look at the skin after assessing the pelvis? What was he looking for?

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1. What organs are in the chest?
 
 
2. Why is it more important to stay close to the ribs on the left side than on the right (when removing the chest plate)?
 
 
3. What are some of the initial assessments of the chest after removing the chest plate?
 
 
4. What causes pleural fluid?
 
 
5. How much pleural fluid does this patient have on the left side?
 
 
6. Does it look infected?
 
 
7. Is it transudative or exudative?
 
 
8. Do you think the pleural fluid interfered with the patient’s breathing?
 
 
9. Why did the physician put towels over the rib edges?
 
 
10. Identify the xiphoid process.
 
 
11. Identify the diaphragm.
 
 
12. Identify the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor muscles.

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1. Describe the contents of the pericardial sac. Is this normal?
 
 
2. Is there evidence for tamponade? Hypertension? Pericarditis? Myocardial rupture?
 
 
3. What vessel is entered with the forceps? What is the purpose of this part of the procedure?
 
 
4. Is any pathology identified? If so, what?
 
 
5. What is the purpose of adding clamps?

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1. The first incision is above the thyroid notch. What structures are being cut through?
 
 
2. What’s the difference between the pharynx, larynx, esophagus, and trachea?
 
 
3. What’s anterior, the larynx or the esophagus?
 
 
4. Identify the hyoid bone.
 
 
5. Identify the vocal cords.
 
 
6. Why does the physician keep mentioning about not cutting through the skin of the neck?
 
 
7. What is the purpose of “tying off the carotids” and when is that performed?
 
 
8. What pathology is present in the spine? What causes this?
 
 
9. What structures (tubes) pass through the diaphragm and connect the chest organs to the abdominal organs?
 
 
10. Order these structures from anterior to posterior.
 
 
11. Order these structures from right to left.
 
 
12. What structure is being cut at 2:02?
 
 
13. What structure is being cut at 2:10?

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1. What is the ligament of Treitz?
 
 
2. What organ is being removed?
 
 
3. Why is it being removed?
 
 
4. What is the name of the fat being cut?
 
 
5. Is the cut mesenteric or antimesenteric?
 
 
6. What does “blunt dissection” mean?
 
 
7. Why are strings tied around intestine before cutting between them?

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1. The video begins cutting tissue lateral to the bladder. The tissue connects the bladder to the pelvic side wall. What structures are in this tissue?
 
 
2. The anterior bladder is relatively free (separated) from the anterior pelvic wall. Is that the normal configuration? Or has there already been some postmortem or dissection? Or is this a post-surgical change? (If so, what surgery?)
 
 
3. The space posterior to the bladder is relatively free. Is that the normal configuration? Or has there already been some postmortem dissection? Or is this a post-surgical change? (If so, what surgery?)
 
 
4. Identify the right lobe of the liver, the round ligament, and the left lobe the liver.
 
 
5. Is the gallbladder present?
 
 
6. Can you identify the central tendon of the diaphragm?
 
 
7. Identify any iliac vessels. Are they arteries or veins?
 
 
8. Can you definitively number any thoracic vertebrae (T1, T2, T3, etc.). What landmark did you use?
 
 
9. From about 1:20 to 1:40, you can see a thin, long strand on either immediate side of the thoracic vertebral column and spanning the entire thorax. What is it?
 
 
10. Is the phrenic nerve visible in the video?
 
 
11. What are indications for checking urine for postmortem toxicology?
 
 
12. What pre-analytic variables might affect urine toxicology results?

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1. Identify the right upper, middle, and lower lobes; and the left upper and lower lobes.
 
 
2. Identify the oblique fissure. Identify the bilateral horizontal fissures.
 
 
3. What is anthracosis? Does the patient have it?
 
 
4. What structures comprise the lung hila?
 
 
5. Once the hilar structures are visible on the right, identify the bronchus, pulmonary artery, and pulmonary veins?
 
 
6. Once the hilar structures are visible on the left, identify the bronchus, pulmonary artery, and pulmonary veins?
 
 
7. Did you identify the structure in 2. and 3. based on relative location or appearance?
 
 
8. Draw out the right hilar structure, correctly positioned (which is anterior, posterior, medial later). Repeat for the left.
 
 
9. Which is thicker and firmer, the pulmonary artery or vein?
 
 
10. Which vessel is the pathologist checking for pulmonary embolism?
 
 
11. What is the difference between a central and peripheral pulmonary embolism?
 
 
12. Is it possible to have microscopic pulmonary embolism?
 
 
13. Did this patient have a pulmonary embolism?
 
 
14. Was the patient a smoker? What anatomy evidence is there for your answer?
 
 
15. There is a lymph node identified. Does it appear normal or diseased? How can you tell?
 
 
16. Where are thoracic lymph nodes typically found (named areas)?
 
 
17. What are the lung weights? Are the lung weights normal?
 
 
18. Which lung is heavier? Is that normal?
 
 
16. What would be the clinical significance of a pulmonary embolism obstructing the right pulmonary artery vs. a pulmonary embolism obstructing a single sublobar pulmonary artery vs. a single microscopic pulmonary embolism?
 
 
19. What is acute chest syndrome in sickle cell disease?
 
 
8. How decomposed is the body?

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1. What kind of pathology can be identified on the cut surface of the lungs?
 
 
2. What are examples of focal pathology in the lungs (diseases that affect one area)?
 
 
3. What are examples of diffuse pathology in the lungs (diseases that affect the entire lung)?
 
 
4. Are there any conditions that can be both focal and diffuse?
 
 
5. What main pathophysiologic process does this patient seem to have?
 
 
6. Is there pneumonia so far?
 
 
7. What would the cut surface of a lung with emphysema look like?

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1. Identify the heart, aorta and larynx.
 
 
2. Identify the left and right sides of the heart.
 
 
3. Why is one side thicker than the other?
 
 
4. Identify the esophagus.
 
 
5. Where is the esophagus in relation to the airway.
 
 
6. Identify the trachea, tracheal rings, and posterior tracheal membrane.
 
 
7. Is the trachea opened from the anterior or posterior side?
 
 
8. How decomposed is the specimen?
 
 
9. Identify the tracheal bifurcation.
 
 
10. Identify the esophageal mucosa.

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1. Identify the aorta.
 
 
2. How much plaque is on the aorta?
 
 
3. Identify the main branches of the aortic arch.
 
 
4. Identify posterior intervertebral artery ostia in the aorta.
 
 
5. Identify the pulmonary artery, and the aorta.
 
 
6. What artery runs immediately posterior to the origin of the pulmonary artery.
 
 
7. Identify the left anterior descending coronary artery.
 
 
8. Is there any plaque in it? How much? Is it enough to present a cause of death?

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1. Review lung histology.
 
 
2. Identify alveoli (alveolar walls and spaces).
 
 
3. How many alveoli have “pink stuff” inside them?
 
 
4. How many alveoli are “clear” inside?
 
 
5. What do you think the “pink stuff” is inside the alveoli?
 
 
6. What is normally inside the alveolar spaces in healthy people?
 
 
7. Should alveoli in healthy people be clear or have something inside them?
 
 
8. Review the circulatory system — specifically how blood circulates between the heart and lungs.
 
 
9. What is pulmonary edema?
 
 
10. How does pulmonary edema happen?
 
 
11. Why did the patient die?

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1. What is the purpose of the brain removal in this case?
 
 
2. Why part the hair?
 
 
3. What layers of the scalp are being separated manually (with the fingers)?
 
 
4. Identify the temporalis muscle.
 
 
5. What does “reflect” mean in an autopsy? For example, what does it mean to “reflect skin” or “reflect muscle”?
 
 
6. What’s the purpose of reflecting the temporalis muscle?
 
 
7. What are the attachments of the temporalis muscle?
 
 
8. Why is there no bleeding during the scalp incision?

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1. What muscle is folded down on the right side of the skull?
 
 
2. How thick is the normal skull?
 
 
3. Why add the notch in the bone above the ear?
 
 
4. Is the body face up or face down?
 
 
5. What layers of the skull are visible?
 
 
6. Are we looking directly at skull bone?
 
 
7. Can you identify any sutures? If not, why not?

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1. Identify the epidural, subdural, and subarachnoid space near the start of the video.
 
 
2. What is the purpose of adding notches on either side of the skull?
 
 
3. Why is the spinal fluid bloody? Is this a sign of disease?
 
 
4. What gross findings can suggest dementia?
 
 
5. Can any type of dementia be diagnosed grossly? Which type(s)?
 
 
6. Which dementias require a microscopic diagnosis?
 
 
7. What structures are under the cerebellar tentorium?
 
 
8. What main structures attach the brain to the body? (Or which structures need to be cut to release the brain from the skull?)
 
 
9. Identify each structure:
Skull
Base of skull
Anterior cranial fossa
Middle cranial fossa
Posterior cranial fossa
Dura mater
Cerebellar tentorium
Temporal lobe
Frontal lobe
Parietal lobe
Occipital lobe
Pituitary stalk
Sella turcica
Clivus
Petrous bone
Sphenoid wing
Optic nerve