The Postmortem Pathology Section provides a complete, 24 hour per day, 365 days per year service in autopsy pathology for the Clinical Center. In addition, when the use and study of human pathological material is requested by research staff of any of the institutes, the Postmortem Section makes every effort to collaborate with and/or supply the researchers with the human tissues upon approved request. (The Laboratory of Pathology has a standard procedure for tissue requests.) The autopsy material is utilized by staff and residents for research projects involving clinicopathological correlation and characterization of disease processes. Currently, several projects are on-going: clinical-pathological studies in dementia; MRI correlations with normal tissue and de-myelinating disease (multiple sclerosis); normal tissues used for purification of antigens to make antibodies; and use of autopsy materials as quality control tissue for immunohistochemistry. A partial database of major autopsy findings from 1953 through the present is available and all findings from March, 1999 on are available through the Laboratory of Pathology's Information System. This system contains the full text of all autopsy reports. In addition to its primary clinical responsibilities and research support function, the Post-mortem Pathology section is responsible for training pathology residents in the art and science of autopsy pathology.
