Week One at UPMC Presbyterian Autopsy

This last week was a good chance for me to become reacquainted with the autopsy process. I had learned many things from my time during the WVU autopsy rotation and I felt especially prepared coming here. Although there are a few differences between the way that autopsies are performed between here and at WVU the process is largely the same. WVU mostly receives medical examiner cases and a few hospital cases whereas here at Presbyterian they receive hospital cases almost exclusively. At this current rotation, I won’t get a chance to see some of the interesting forensic pathology related to traumatic deaths or drug overdoses, but I will be getting more experience related to chronic diseases. Most of the patients who sadly pass away here are elderly and have been battling their diseases for many years.

One more interesting aspect of being at this rotation at UPMC Presbyterian is that I also will be getting more exposure to fetal autopsies. These autopsies are performed at UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital, a rotation site where I received training in their gross room during January and February. It’s good to be able to see all of the familiar faces and although fetal autopsies are not assignments that I particularly look forward to, they are a necessary part of working as a PA. There are many diseases that can occur during development that unfortunately lead to the tragic demise of the fetus. Performing these autopsies helps to bring closure for the parents as well as epidemiologically track the incidence of different pathologies.

Recently, I have been doing even more personal research into nutrition and health concerning cholesterol and high blood pressure. I’ve just got to say that it’s great having a background in pathology so that I can understand fairly clearly all of the physiological processes that relate to our health. I love being able to use my professional knowledge and applying it to improve my personal life as well as being able to pass advice onto others. Last night I watched a great lecture on youtube given by a doctor at UCSF in 2009 called, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth”. I never had any idea that fructose metabolism played a role in blood pressure by inhibiting nitric oxide, an important vasodilator. There were a whole host of other detrimental things that I learned about fructose, so I’ve decided to make my diet as free of fructose as possible. I’ll still gladly eat whole fruit, but I’ve had to toss out all the items in my fridge containing high fructose corn syrup, including one of my favorite condiments since childhood, ketchup. Farewell my love. It was just not meant to be.

If any of you readers have the opportunity, I would highly recommend watching the lecture and taking notes while you’re at it. It can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM