Tropical Doctor > Volume 38, Number 3 > Pp. 163-165

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Short Reports

Postmortem trucut transnasal brain biopsy in the diagnosis of encephalitis

Thambu David Sudarsanam MD   ^*    Geeta Chacko MD      Rani Diana David MBBS   

^* Departments of Medicine, The Christian Medical College, Vellore 632004, India; Pathology, The Christian Medical College, Vellore 632004, India; Microbiology, The Christian Medical College, Vellore 632004, India

Correspondence to: Dr Thambu David Sudarsanam, Department of Medicine, The Christian Medical College, Vellore 632004, India Email: thambu{at}cmcvellore.ac.in

Diagnosing encephalitis is often difficult with a definitive diagnosis being reached at best in only 40% of cases. This clinical condition is associated with a high morbidity and mortality. A brain biopsy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of this disease. However, this procedure is rarely done, resulting in the cause of death being largely speculative. We propose a simple procedure for postmortem brain biopsy through the transnasal transcribriform route that will possibly be more acceptable to clinicians and relatives alike due to lack of external disfigurement, relative ease of the procedure and economy of time and manpower. This could also prove to be of immense benefit in an epidemic of encephalitis, especially in remote areas.

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