Chronic renal failure: An autopsy study.

Diabetes and hypertension are at present the major causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) worldwide. The stages 0-5 of CKD are defined according to the estimated glomerular filtration rate. The term chronic renal failure (CRF) typically corresponds to CKD stages 3-5. Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in patients of CRF and ESRD. This study was undertaken to analyze the age and sex incidence, clinical features, etiology, pathology of various organs in detail, and causes of death of CRF patients. All autopsies performed on known cases of CRF and those who were diagnosed as CRF at autopsy at a tertiary care hospital in India over a 7-year period were studied. The highest number of cases of CRF fell within the 56-65 years age group with a male/female ratio of 1.38:1. Oliguria and anasarca were the most common presenting features. Chronic pyelonephritis was the most common cause of CRF in our study, followed by hypertension, diabetes, and chronic glomerulonephritis. Other causes included amyloidosis, autosomal poly- cystic kidney disease, and ischemic and multiple myeloma. Most common cause of death found was cardiovascular, followed by infections, cerebrovascular, metabolic, and other causes.

Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease: an autopsy case report in tertiary care hospital.

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is the most common prion disease. It is a rare, fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by an infectious protein called prion. The diagnosis can be confirmed only by histological examination of brain tissue. Because of the transmissible nature of the disease, autopsy or brain biopsy cannot be performed at many institutions. Histology shows spongiform changes, neuronal loss, reactive astrocytic proliferation, accumulation of pathologic protein occurring in three general forms: Sporadic, familial, and acquired form, including a variant form of CJD. It clinically presents as predominantly progressive dementia with a rapid onset, myoclonus, cerebellar, pyramidal, extra pyramidal and visual signs. Occurrence of periodical spikes in electro-encephalogram, observation of cortical signal alterations in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, and detection of protein 14-3-3 in cerebrospinal fluid substantiate diagnosis. Autopsy case is presented of a 50 year old woman with progressive dementia, typical neurological symptoms, MRI findings and confirmation of CJD on histology and immunostaining.