Neuropathological Research Developed From the Analysis of Forensic Autopsy Cases

With the exception of certain specific fields, such as trauma and poisoning, very few neuropathological studies have been reported on forensic autopsy cases. Craniotomy is performed in all forensic autopsy cases, and subjects are often medically healthy. Such studies could provide a vast amount of information to contribute to a wide range of fields, such as anatomy, neuropathology, neurology, and psychiatry. In addition to rare case reports, immunohistochemical staining can be performed on a range of samples; appropriately designed research could produce valuable clinical pathology data. Such an approach could be a useful resource, for example to explore early presymptomatic pathology of neurodegenerative diseases and contributing factors in mood disorders, suicide, and falls, and to establish neuropathological diagnostic criteria for diseases. Furthermore, molecular autopsy-recently developed genetic analysis for autopsy cases-is expected to have a significant impact on postmortem diagnosis and research of neurological diseases. In this paper, we present an overview of neuropathological research conducted using forensic autopsy cases to demonstrate its usefulness.