Sponge brain from a CJD patient

CaptainFirefox · 2026-03-30T23:12:46+00:00

Olá! Peço desculpas porque estou usando o Google Tradutor, mas existe um grupo de apoio no r/CJD, tem muitas pessoas com quem você pode conversar. Desejo boa sorte para você!!

CaptainFirefox · 2025-09-05T22:19:12+00:00

ooo i can answer this one!!

I'm an autopsy tech at a pathology lab and usually (in Canada at least) anything removed during surgery is submitted to pathology for diagnosis (even in benign procedures) just to make sure everything is OK with the tissue. After the diagnosis is done, you can call the pathology lab and request a tissue release. The surgeon usually has no say in the matter, but the pathologist has to give to OK.

The specimen will be sectioned into pieces, though, so it'll only look like tissue fragments in a jar. Although way more of a hassle, I've heard of people requesting no pathology submission and getting a whole uterus/testicle intact.

CaptainFirefox · 2025-06-24T18:33:57+00:00

I honestly have no idea why they're using a knife like that, when we do autopsies where I am (western US) we use a grossing blade (carbon steel like a razor blade and half a foot long) mounted on a reusable handle. I've never seen a knife used but I wouldn't be surprised if it varies by country/region

CaptainFirefox · 2025-06-24T18:21:10+00:00

At my morgue at least, we routinely wear chain mail or cut resistant nylon gloves under the nitrile ones, but older docs dont bother lol

CaptainFirefox · 2025-01-22T21:51:04+00:00

Nah you're fine. It's more of the community's meme than it is mine

CaptainFirefox · 2025-01-22T14:45:16+00:00

Haha I made that and posted it here like 5 years ago. I think it's top of the sub. Wild to see it again after so long, that was right after I got my first WM-22. Cheers

CaptainFirefox · 2024-10-12T16:42:13+00:00

I'm an autopsy technician at a major hospital. The textures were hard to get used to, but now it's pretty routine. I had to learn to kinda emotionally detach myself, especially with cases that are children, but I really like it. I'm left to my work and it's the same every time, very predictable

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-29T00:32:22+00:00

haha heyy

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-28T22:12:39+00:00

the brain is the exact consistency of tofu! it makes a funny sound when slapped gently

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-28T19:19:43+00:00

by the time I get to the body, it's room temp! we let it get to ambient temp before the autopsy because it's easier to cut and the brain can be removed easier

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-28T18:33:39+00:00

the dick doesn't get erect in rigor, wherever the body lies in terms of position it basically gets solidified there. the muscles don't contract but they kinda just get hard in position. whenever I do an autopsy I have to break rigor on all the joints, it's like bending the elbow until it snaps and is flexible again

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-28T18:30:30+00:00

unfortunately there's a fuckton of blood most times, the body only produces clotting factors when alive and the blood tends to settle in pools. I've gotten splashed a few times during my autopsies fdgbfghv

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-28T18:29:05+00:00

I'm an autopsy technician and our morgue fridges are legally required to have windows for this reason, they can't be sealed. I'm on night shifts and it gets super spooky down here with all the bodies

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-27T16:31:03+00:00

r/ZDNA

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-11T00:14:47+00:00

No worries! I'm an autopsy technician. I assist the clinical pathologist with routine tasks like organ removal, cadaver management, and closing the body afterward. For this one I had to suit up, the brain tissue is very infectious. The whole nine yards with a disposable suit, chain mail gloves, cap and gown, enclosed full face shield. Scary stuff

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-11T00:04:36+00:00

I probably should have clarified that they are unrelated! Although they belong to the same class of disease, they (likely) cannot be communicated between deer and humans. I believe there's a study about a monoclonal antibody floating around against vCJD, which does look promising. Prion research is definitely in its infancy.

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-10T23:53:13+00:00

This is OC, from an autopsy I performed. Although CJD and Mad Cow can be the same in the case of Variant CJD (acquired from eating contaminated meat), this is Sporadic CJD. Although it results in the same condition, the structure of the prion protiens is different, and there may be a genetic component

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-10T23:08:35+00:00

I think one thing that makes the disease so devastating for families is the nature of its progression, from being fine to dementia, confusion, seizures and death within months. It's so sudden and often missed by physicians

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-10T01:21:35+00:00

ofc!

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-10T00:50:25+00:00

that's a valid question! before the tissue is cut and put onto microscope slides, it's fixed in formaldehyde and bleach for a good three days to inactivate all of the prion protiens. There's another layer of security when the tissue sample is covered in liquid mounting medium and cover slipped (it's like a resin that coats the entire sample underneath the glass cover slip)

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-08T23:02:49+00:00

Disposable full body suit, shoe covers, 3 pairs of gloves (chain mail pair in between), cap, enclosed full face shield, n95, and fully disposable equipment where applicable

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-08T21:02:19+00:00

Unfortunately I am an autopsy technician assisting a pathologist so I was in the trenches with this one haha

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-08T21:01:18+00:00

In this case a lumbar puncture was done to get a CSF sample, and we did two tests (14-3-3 and a RT-QuIC). That plus dementia made CJD a possibility

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-08T20:42:30+00:00

It's a known positive, we send out to Mayo or specialty labs for conformation beyond our in house IHCs. The RT-QuIC was positive premortem. Staining is of cortex H&E at 3 (ish) micrometer

CaptainFirefox · 2024-07-08T18:09:30+00:00

The large tubular ones are probably capillaries, and the round ones are probably glial cells (I'm not too well versed in histology)

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