Histopathology in burn deaths 42 Int J Res Med. 2014; 3(1);42-45 e ISSN:2320-2742 p ISSN: 2320-2734 A study of histopathological changes in burn deaths at civil hospital Ahmedabad- Gujarat Mital R. Rathod 1* , Hansa Goswami 2 , Dharmendra Jankar 3 1 Tutor, Department of Pathology, Medical College, Baroda, Gujarat 2 Professor, Department of Pathology, B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 3 Assistant Professor, Department of P.S.M. GMERS Medical College, Gotri, Vadodara, Gujarat INTRODUCTION Burns are the second leading cause of accidental death, following vehicle crashes 1 . Burn injuries are very common in developing countries due to high population density, domestic accidents, poverty, illiteracy, lack of appropriate safety measures, negligence in certain working environment and unsafe use of materials associated with festivals (fireworks) 2 . Electrocution and chemical burn injury commonly occur in industrial area. A severe burn injury is not only a life-threatening problem for the burned patients, but it also may have serious financial effects on the patient and society. The exact number of burns is difficult to determine, but various studies suggest that India with a population of over one billion has 700,000-800,000 burns admissions annually 3 . In burn patients, sepsis and its related complications are the leading cause of mortality followed by irreversible shock and inhalation injury 4 . Mortality increases with the severity of the burn injury and with increasing age of the patient 5 . Histopathology examination is *Corresponding Author Dr. Mital R. Rathod 302, D-Tower, Baroda Skyz, Opp. Adarsh Duplex, Gorwa, Vadodara (Gujarat-India) Email: mitalrathod12@yahoo.com commonly asked by autopsy surgeon to establish the cause of death when he recognizes any morbid anatomical changes in tissues and suspect that it may be the reason for cessation of vital functions of deceased. The present study is undertaken to find out various histopathological changes in different organs and skin in different types of burns includes thermal, electrocution and chemical. This is important as there are only few studies are conducted in this regard till now. It will be of immense help for further research. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted over a period of one year from May 2007 to April 2008. Study conducted on specimens of major organ like Lung, Kidney, Liver, Brain, Heart, Spleen and skin of burn deceased received at autopsy section of Histopathology department, BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad Gujarat. Data like age, gender, type of burn were collected from hospital record. All the specimens were presented in 10% formalin for fixation. In histo-pathological examination, number of sections was taken from different sites according to size of specimen. Then these representative sections were subjected for processing and automatic tissue processor. After processing the section were embedded in paraffin, cut with ORIGINAL ARTICLE ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Burns are the second leading cause of accidental death. Burn injuries are very common in developing countries due to high population density, domestic accidents, poverty, illiteracy, lack of appropriate safety measures, and negligence in certain working environment. Our aim is to examine histopathology in different organ and skin affected due to burn. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted over a period of one year from May 2007 to April 2008 in 47 autopsies of burn. Microscopic examination of lung, liver, kidney, spleen, heart, brain and skin were performed with hematoxylin and Eosin staining in autopsy section of histopathology department, BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. RESULTS: Female to male ratio is 1:1.24. Most affected age group is 21 to 40 years. 21 to 30 years of female predominantly affected due to thermal burn. 33.3% skin present with epidermal nuclear elongation, intra epidermal separation. More than half of lung specimens show congestion, hemorrhage and oedema in alveolar space. Histopathology reveals necrosis (46.2%), fatty changes (38.5%) and infarction (30.8%) in liver and kidney present with necrosis of cortex (61.5%), Cloudy degeneration (53.9%) and infective nephritis (46.2%). CONCLUSION: Major Proportion of economically active population affected due to burn. Younger age female more prone to injured in domestic fire. Skin changes are specific in electric burn. Congestion, oedema, hemorrhage and necrosis frequently present in the various organs were insignificant. We believe that these finding are not specific and are seen in many other terminal diseases. Keywords: Autopsy, Burn, Histopathological changes