[Analysis of the pathologic diagnoses of 1300 autopsies]

1300 autopsies in this hospital between 1949-1989 were reviewed, and the variation of the autopsy rate was analysed, giving an average rate of 20.7%. In 1258 cases with complete data, the consistency between clinical and pathological diagnoses reached 76.6%. Clinical misdiagnoses and uncertain diagnoses were found to be 19.2% and 4.1% respectively. The statistical figures indicated that infections diseases occupied a dominant position in 1950s, while in recent years cardiovascular diseases and malignant tumors have become the major diseases. Reasons of clinical misdiagnoses and lowering down of autopsy rate are discussed. Furthermore, statistical data cited in this article clearly demonstrate that autopsy is still of extreme importance in investigations of modern medical sciences.