Are autopsy findings still relevant to the management of critically ill patients in the modern era?
Fröhlich S, Ryan O, Murphy N, et al. Are autopsy findings still relevant to the management of critically ill patients in the modern era? Crit Care Med. 2014;42(2):336-43. doi:10.1097/CCM.0b013e3182a275b1.
This study used a blinded review of medical records matched with autopsy findings to examine diagnostic errors among patients that died in an intensive care unit at a university hospital. Clinical and postmortem findings differed in 21% of cases, but only 2.4% had a discrepancy that may have affected the outcome—rates that are much lower than previously reported.