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What about Autopsy and Tissue donation?

Post-mortem examination or autopsy plays a vital role in our understanding of the diseases which cause dementia. While necessary to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, autopsy also provides researchers with the tissue essential to their search for a cause and cure for this disease and for more effective diagnosis and treatment.

The report that the family receives will explain the final diagnosis and any major changes found in the brain. It will say whether or not the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease was confirmed and if there were any other conditions affecting the brain.

If an autopsy is desired, it is necessary that the necessary plans and paperwork be done well before the person’s death. Everyone associated with the person (family, primary physician, long-term care facility) needs to know that an autopsy is desired and the arrangements are in place. Then, once death has occurred, plans can proceed smoothly and efficiently. The cost of the autopsy may include pathology fees for staff and facilities to perform the autopsy and in some cases transportation of the tissue.

A successful brain autopsy requires that the patient’s body be refrigerated within six hours of death. A pathologist or a pathologist’s assistant then has up to 72 hours to collect the brain. Once the brain tissue is prepared for autopsy, it may be examined at any time. A specially trained neuropathologist who examines small samples of the prepared brain tissue most effectively does the brain autopsy itself.

The brain autopsy procedure does not disfigure the body or delay the funeral. The brain tissue is removed through an incision in the back of the head. The face is never touched or scarred during the procedure. An open casket is still an option. The examination will not delay the preparation of the body for burial.

In Rhode Island, the closest place that performs brain autopsies is located at RI Hospital. Brown University School of Medicine and its Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias program conducts its research there. For information, contact Ed Stopa, MD, Director of Neuropathology at RI Hospital at 401-444-5155.

People who do not have Alzheimer’s disease are encouraged to donate brain specimens as well. The research progress of the past decade would not have been possible without both normal and diseased brain tissue for scientists to study.

NOTE: Physicians often record causes other than Alzheimer’s disease (such a pneumonia or some other condition) as the “cause of death” on the Death Certificate. By requesting that Alzheimer’s be listed as the underlying cause of death, you can help the Board of Health maintain more accurate records regarding the true scope of this disease.

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