title: Quality assessment of perinatal and infant postmortem examinations in Turkey.
abstract: An autopsy examination is important in identifying the cause of death and as a means of auditing clinical and forensic practice; however, especially in perinatal and infantile age groups determining the cause of death leads to some difficulties in autopsy practice. In this study, 15,640 autopsies recorded during the years 2000-2004 in the Mortuary Department of the Council of Forensic Medicine were reviewed. Autopsy findings of 510 cases between 20 completed weeks of gestation and 1 year of age were analyzed retrospectively. The quality of each necropsy report was assessed using a modification of the system gestational age assessment described by Rushton, which objectively scores aspects identified by the Royal College of Pathologists as being part of a necropsy. According to their ages, the cases were subdivided into three groups. Intrauterine deaths were 31% (158 cases), neonatal deaths were 24% (123 cases), and infantile deaths were 45% (229 cases) of all cases. Scores for the quality of the necropsy report were above the minimum acceptable score with 44% in intrauterine, 88% in neonatal and infantile deaths.
authors.affiliation: Pathologist, Council of Forensic Medicine, Beylikdüzü, Istanbul, Turkey. isilpakis@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Isil
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pakis
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karapirli
authors.forename: Ferah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Karayel
authors.forename: Arzu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turan
authors.forename: Elif
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akyildiz
authors.forename: Oguz
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Polat
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000453:epidemiology; D005333:Fetus / Q000473:pathology*; D049429:Forensic Pathology / Q000592:standards*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D011247:Pregnancy; D011786:Quality Control; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology