[Early autopsies in the 24-hour activities of a pathologo-anatomic department]

Performance of early autopsies enables one to use the methods of functional-morphological analysis in the daily work of pathoanatomists and to make systematic studies of patho- and morphogenesis basing on autopsy material. It is found that during the first postmortem hour tissue and organ metabolism stays stable, thus providing conditions for using histoenzymic and electron-microscopic methods to study organs and tissues. Organization of early autopsies for solving different scientific, educational and clinico-diagnostic problems may be realized in the conditions of a 24-hour work of a pathoanatomical unit in a general hospital. The authors have summarized the results of early autopsy study performed in 1980-1985.