The Science of Rapid Research Autopsy

Abstract

A rapid research autopsy is an autopsy performed for the primary goal of collecting tissue to support basic and translational research. While research autopsies were first used to understand neurological disorders, this approach has increasingly been used to understand the mechanisms and pathobiology of a variety of other diseases, most often cancer metastasis and treatment resistance. In this chapter we provide an evidence-based discussion of the quality of the different types of biomolecules in postmortem tissues followed by a review of the high-impact science that has been performed using cancer tissues derived from several different tumor types. Finally, we provide our opinion on the future of autopsy as an integral component of modern medical practice.