Historical evolution of autopsies and their current situation

Abstract

The autopsy is one of the oldest procedures with major contributions to the understanding of the human body and the origin of its diseases, its main objective is to determine the cause of death. Currently it is a technique of great relevance not only for its contributions in medicine, but also in legal aspects for different situations. Nowadays, advances in autopsies have allowed to increase the efficiency in the execution of more assertive diagnoses through X-ray images, postmortem computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, which are the techniques with the greatest boom in recent years. This evaluative practice of the corpse has had several advances that facilitate the detection of pathologies that could go unnoticed in antemortem diagnoses, or even determine if the death was due to hereditary chronic conditions, or violent mechanisms. It also allows the creation of statistical indexes where the causes of death of a given population or territory are reflected as a measure of public health and solving legal or hospital cases that are being carried out through an accusation or lawsuit. Reports in Latin America have demonstrated a higher frequency of this technique in male adults, they also show that these practices have a decrease in the last years, specifically in Ecuador there are no strong reports that indicate the continuity of autopsies, and however, the law presents the statutes in which it is mandatory to carry out this procedure. © 2019, Sociedad Venezolana de Farmacologia y de Farmacologia Clinica y Terapeutica.