Report and Recommendations of the Association of Pathology Chairs' Autopsy Working Group.

Autopsy has been a foundation of pathology training for many years, but hospital autopsy rates are notoriously low. At the 2014 meeting of the Association of Pathology Chairs, some pathologists suggested removing autopsy from the training curriculum of pathology residents to provide additional months for training in newer disciplines, such as molecular genetics and informatics. At the same time, the American Board of Pathology received complaints that newly hired pathologists recently certified in anatomic pathology are unable to perform an autopsy when called upon to do so.

Diabetic microangiopathy in the liver: an autopsy study of incidence and association with other diabetic complications.

Diabetic hepatosclerosis (DH) is a recently described form of diabetic microangiopathy with hepatic sinusoidal fibrosis and basement membrane deposition without cirrhosis. The objective was to investigate the frequency of DH and its correlation with other diabetic microangiopathic complications. Complete autopsies from 57 adults with diabetes were reviewed for liver pathology and other diabetic complications.

Impact of BMI on clinically significant unsuspected findings as determined at postmortem examination.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on autopsy reports of 311 patients who underwent full postmortem examinations from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2002. Clinically unsuspected diagnoses were categorized as follows: class I, major clinically unsuspected diagnoses that were responsible for death; class II, major clinically unsuspected diagnoses that were not directly responsible for death but if left undiagnosed may have resulted in patient death; and class V, no clinically unsuspected diagnoses. Two multivariate analyses were performed using 4 variables to predict class I diagnoses.

Novel uses of intracardiac echocardiography with a phased-array imaging catheter.

A newer phased-array ultrasound imaging catheter (AcuNav, Siemens, Moutainview, Calif) provides comprehensive anatomic and physiologic data during cardiac interventions. The role of this catheter in percutaneous closure procedures, transseptal ablative procedures, and valvular interventions has been reported. We describe an expanded role of intracardiac echocardiography using AcuNav imaging catheter (Siemens) in 2 clinical situations.

Spontaneous nontraumatic hemoperitoneum due to a bleeding arteriovenous malformation on the serosal surface of the transverse colon: a case report.

Arteriovenous malformations of the gastrointestinal tract are a very common entity and a frequently cited cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding in adults. They are characteristically found in the mucosa or submucosa of the bowel wall, and the vast majority do not cause any symptoms. We discuss the rare case of an extraluminal arteriovenous malformation of the transverse colon in an elderly woman who presented to the emergency department in hypovolemic shock after collapsing at home.