7. 8. In which cases, autopsy do not reveal any cause of death? An autopsy for which the gross and histological indings do not provide an adequate cause of death is called negative autopsy. It may happen in 2-5% of autopsies. It may happen due to the nature of the condition/disease (true negative autopsy) and could be observed in following types of deaths: • Vagal inhibition of heart • Cardiac arrhythmias • Acute neurogenic myocardial failure • Coronary spasm • Laryngeal spasm as in dry drowning • No anatomical change due to concussion of brain. • When a person scuf les with a person having cardiopulmonary de icit, it results in functional ischemia of heart (no appreciable inding may be seen in heart). • Death from early myocardial infarction It may also happen due to other causes (pseudo-negative autopsy) like: · Lapses in history taking of case, external examination, internal examination, histological and toxicological examination. · Lapses in knowledge/skill of the health professional. What different questions can be answered upon a second autopsy performed later? 1. Did the original autopsy comply with applicable domestic rules and meet international standards? 2. Can the initial indings be con irmed? 3. Are there additional relevant indings that were not detected at the irst autopsy? 4. Are the indings of the second autopsy consistent with those of the irst? MEDICAL DIMENSION OF FREQUENTLY ENCOUNTERED CASES | 28