Understanding diseases and the mechanisms behind them is a crucial step towards developing treatment. Many times, however, it’s difficult to accomplish this due to the rarity of a condition, or the severity of the patient’s condition. A new type of procedure known as rapid autopsy may provide answers to some of our most pressing questions about diseases like multiple sclerosis or pancreatic cancer. Johns Hopkins is one of about a dozen medical centers now performing this procedure. Keep reading to learn more, or follow the original story from the Baltimore Sun.
What is Rapid Autopsy?
Rapid autopsies are a new movement in the medical field pushing for more accurate and useful samples. The procedure is supposed to take place within six hours of a patient’s death. The goal is collect tissues and samples before parts of the body begin to deteriorate and decompose. Sometimes researchers are able to gather cells that are still alive. This can shed valuable light on the disease responsible for the patient’s death. In the case of tumors, it may reveal why the tumor was so aggressive, or how it was able to spread so quickly.
How Patients Make It Possible
Dave Foster had a tumor in his brain. He was being rushed back from the United Arab Emirates with horrible headaches. He left a message that detailed what he wanted done. It said that if anything happened to him, he wanted to make sure anything possible was donated to research. He wanted, even in the worst case scenario, to help others.
When Dave Foster died of glioblastoma at age 37, his family made sure his wish was fulfilled. An autopsy was performed within hours of his death so that valuable samples could be collected. They hoped that perhaps something in Dave’s cells would be able to save others well beyond his lifetime.
In some ways, rapid autopsy is becoming more accepted because doctors are only now beginning to realize the potential it offers. But, perhaps the biggest boost in the procedures popularity comes from patients and families. So many of them wish to give back or find meaning in the worst circumstances– this gives them an opportunity.
Passing the Torch
Doctors often get to know patients before the procedure. They meet, and discuss the potential. They discuss the technicalities and the logistics. Some of these cases are the most meaningful according to one doctor. She says it’s because patients look her in the eye and explain how valuable their participation is.
She describes them as passing the torch to us. Though their struggle with cancer is over, doctors are able to carry on the fight for them even after they are gone, thanks to breakthroughs being made as a result of rapid autopsies.
How it Helps
Rapid autopsies performed at Hopkins and other institutions have already begun to make progress in fields such as cancer research. Doctors have been able to map the life cycle of a pancreatic cancer cell. This is significant– pancreatic cancer is often so deadly because it is often hard to identify before it spreads to other areas of the body. These results may allow doctors to detect the cancer earlier which allows for more effective treatment.
Other tumor samples have also contributed to the development of new clinical trials. Another sample from a rapid autopsy has led to the development of a new clinical trial for children living with pediatric forms of cancer.
Many patients who volunteer for rapid autopsies are those involved in clinical trials. Their participation in the procedure allows researchers to further study the effectiveness and inner workings of novel treatments. This allows them to better redesign the drug in future trials which could ultimately lead to cures for future patients.
