Forensic Pathology for Police - Brainshare Public Online Library

148 7 The Postmortem Forensic Examination/Autopsy
Fig. 7.28 In some instances, the bone can be removed without disturbing the underlying dura. In
such cases, the skull cap actually peels off of the dura as it is being pulled off of the head
Fig. 7.29 In other cases, the
dura remains adherent to the
inner aspect of the skull cap
so that when the skull is
removed, the dura is also
removed, thus exposing the
underlying brain
adherent to the inner aspect of the skull cap as it is removed, thus exposing the
underlying brain (Fig. 7.29 and Disc Image 7.26). At this point, evaluation is made
for epidural, subdural, and subarachnoid hemorrhage or other abnormalities in these
locations. Next, the brain is removed from the cranial cavity (Disc Image 7.27), after
which the remaining dura mater must be removed from the skull, including the basilar
skull, so that the skull can be thoroughly examined (Disc Image 7.28). The dura
should be removed from the skull cap, as well as the basilar skull. At this point, the
pituitary gland can be removed. In many forensic autopsies, the brain is examined
in the fresh state; however, in select cases, the pathologist chooses to allow the brain
to “fix” in formalin for several weeks prior to further evaluation (Fig. 6.11 shows a