35677 - Necropsy Techniques and Post Mortem Diagnosis

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows the necropsy techniques, the methodology of pathological diagnosis and methods of sampling for cytological and histopathological investigations, useful to recognize and/or diagnosing a disease or the cause of death of an animal.

Course contents

Definition, aims, importance and limits of the autopsy. Tanatology. Forensic veterinary medicine: medico-legal assessment.

Equipment. Cautions to take before, after and during the necropsy and relevant regulations. Dog, cat, swine, bovine, sheep and goat, equine, rabbit and rodents necropsies.

Anamnesis, external examination and preparation for evisceration. Incision of cutis, opening of the carcass and subcutis examination. Opening and examination of abdominal cavity, thoracic cavity, head, mouth and nasal cavity, neck and pelvis.

Examination of single organs. Post-mortem changes versus ante-mortem lesions. Epicrisis and autoptic report.

Specimens collection and sending to the laboratory for cytological, histopathological and ultrastructural examination, bacterial or virus isolation, toxicological analysis. Choice of specimens, selected sites for specimens collection. Collection and preservation of samples.

Readings/Bibliography

- Biavati S.: Tecnica delle autopsie e diagnostica cadaverica. C. Giraldi, Bologna, 1999.

- Marcato P. S.: Patologia Sistematica Veterinaria, vol. 1 e vol. 2. Il Sole 24 Ore-Edagricole, 2015.

- De las Heras Guillamòn M., García de Jalón J.A.: Guida alla diagnosi necroscopica in patologia suina, vol.56. Iniziative Zooprofilattiche e Zootecniche - Brescia - 2004, http://www.fondiz.it/

- De las Heras M., García de Jalón J.A.: Guida alla diagnosi necroscopica in patologia del coniglio, vol.63. Iniziative Zooprofilattiche e Zootecniche - Brescia - 2006, http://www.fondiz.it/

- Petterino C. e coll., Manuale di Tecnica delle Autopsie e di Diagnostica Anatomo-Patologica Veterinaria . Editrice Estense-Giraldi, Bologna, 2003.

- Taccini E., Rossi G., Gili C., Tecnica Autoptica e Diagnostica Cadaverica . Poletto Editore, Milano, 2006.

 

Links :

http://www.portaledidatticovet.org/tirocinio-anatomia-patologica/

 

http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/ilm/proinfo/necropsy/notes/INDEX.HTML  

Teaching methods

The aim of this course is to give the student the knowledge of necropsy techniques and methodology of sampling and investigation to establish the reason of animal's death. Moreover, this course is intended to stimulate student's skill of reasoning, in order to reach a critical interpretation. During necropsies it's important to dress lab coats, gloves, shoe covers o rubber boots.

Assessment methods

The examination consists of a practical test and an oral test. The two parts are held at the same time, usually the same day.

a) Practical test.

The purpose of the practice test is to assess the adequate manual capacity of the student. The student examines an animal on which to perform necropsy. He must know the instruments suitable for the manual applications, the personal protective equipment to use during necropsy, how to extract organs and systems, how to give directions useful to achieve a diagnosis and be able to give directions on how to make a written report of the necropsy.

b) Oral test.

The purpose of the oral examination is to test the student's ability to apply his knowledge and to carry out the necessary logical-deductive connections. The student must know the post-mortem phenomena to be placed in differential diagnosis with the morphology of lesions, discuss the elements in favour and against the various advanced hypotheses to suggest how to reach the final diagnosis, know the typical cytological and histological sampling methods. Particular attention is paid to the assessment of the student's ability to connect each other the concepts of the various parts of the course and with information derived from courses in previous years.

During the final exam, the student will be judged on the basis of evaluation on theoretical and practical issues covered during the course. This will enable the registration and access to the next module, Tirocinio di Anatomia Patologica, of the integrated course, PRATICA DI DIAGNOSTICA ANATOMOPATOLOGICA E DELLE MALATTIE TRASMISSIBILI (CFU: 7).

Teaching tools

Video-projector, PC, autopsy room, laboratories.

Office hours

See the website of Gianfranco Militerno