So, the past week or so I have been performing autopsies on and off depending if the cases allow. Most of the drug/OD cases get thrown my way, as there is little I can really screw up. On occasion, the supposedly run of the mill drug death turns into something much more interesting...
Just yesterday, we had two interesting cases. The first I was not performing, as the person had a history of von Hippel Lindau, a rare genetic disorder that is characterized by brain tumors and an increased incidence of tumors if other organs. This person did have surgery to remove cerebellar tumors and had a ventricular shunt put in, which was cool to see the tube run down the neck and empty out into the peritoneum. This person ended up having a COD listed as MI, which was pretty evident upon gross sectioning.
The second case was a person with a known history of tuberous sclerosis, yet another rare genetic disorder with tumors in multiple organ systems. Kind of strange to see two rare cases in one day. Anywho, this case was being done out of hesitation, as the person had a recent dx of a stable remus fx but the next of kin was screaming that the nursing home was at fault. Because the case didnt sound very promising, Duval let me take the lead. I got the neck, tongue, heart and lungs out without much incident, except the left lung being completely adherant to the chest wall. When it came time to remove the intestine, i reflected back the duodenum/illeum and found this large black discoloration that was seemingly in the mesentary. Turns out, the decedant had MULTIPLE, HUGE, tumors in both kidneys, enough so that there was no way to distinguish kidney tissue from tumor. The estimated weight of the kidneys were 1000 and over 2000 grams! (In case you dont know, kidneys usually weigh under 200...). What appeared to have happened, is that, one of the tumors on the right side eroded a vessel that caused bleeding into/around the kidney, and eventually death (This was clearly no boating accident...).
Today I spent all day at the state crime lab, which was not exceptionally exciting. Tomorrow, I have to give my final presentation to Andrew and Duval and then go out to lunch. Even if we dont have cases tomorrow, it still feels like I went out on a bang.
See everyone real soon!
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