Resumen

MONTERO GONZALEZ, Teresita; HURTADO DE MENDOZA AMAT, José; WALWYN SALAS, Verónica  y  ALVAREZ SANTANA, Reynaldo. Importance and diagnosis of multiple organ failure in clinical autopsies. Rev Cub Med Mil [online]. 2008, vol.37, n.2. ISSN 0138-6557.

The study of more than 14 000 autopsies has allowed to integrate a series of morphological alterations with the term of multiple organ damage. The purpose of this paper was to determine the validity of the initial diagnostic elements in the deceased with causal factors. A study of them was carried out and the relations of the death causes with the causal factors and of the number of organs affected with the hospital stay were analyzed. 448 dead, whose autopsy had been performed at "Dr. Luis Díaz Soto" Higher Institute of Military Medicine, were examined. The protocols of the autopsy, medical histories and histopathological laminae were reviewed. The 145 cases with criterion of multiple organ damage that were the object of study of this paper, were selected. The results showed the presence of multiple organ damage in a third of the dead. It was mostly observed in those under 50 and in the ones coming from the intermediate therapy and care units. Among the death causes, the severe tissue damage and infection stood out. The most affected organs were the lungs, the bowels, the suprarenal glands, the liver and the brain. Multiple organ damage was present in 59.3 % of the deceased in the first 4 days of hospital stay, with predominance of damage in 5 and 6 organs. The response of the organism to the causal factors triggers the systemic inflammatory response that is morphologically expressed in the multiple organ damage and may cause the death of the patient.

Palabras clave : Multiple organ damage; autopsy; systemic inflammatory response.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )