Table 2. Perceptions of California neurologists, pathologists, and neuropathologists regarding performance of autopsy in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

Characteristic	Neurologists n/N (%)	Pathologists n/N (%)	Neuropathologists n/N (%)
Important reasons to obtain autopsy for CJD patients
Autopsy is needed to confirm CJD diagnosis	–	92/197 (47)	11/21 (52)
Autopsy is needed to rule out variant CJD or other TSEa forms	168/231 (73)	87/193 (45)	12/20 (60)
Barriers to performing autopsy and histopathologic analysis for CJD
Clinicians do not feel autopsy is required for diagnosis	94/221 (43)	72/198 (36)	7/21 (33)
Facilities not able/willing to perform autopsies on CJD patients	75/234 (32)	111/210 (53)	8/22 (36)
Families are reluctant to give consent for autopsy	192/242 (79)	57/202 (28)	6/22 (27)
Cost of autopsy is a concern to patient's family	113/234 (48)	34/202 (17)	8/20 (40)
Cost of autopsy is a concern to hospital/institution	78/234 (34)	40/199 (20)	8/21 (38)
Infection control is a concern regarding autopsy	102/235 (44)	143/185 (77)	9/11 (82)
Facilities are inadequate to perform autopsy	–	24/185 (13)	5/11 (45)
Infection control is a concern regarding histopathologic evaluation	–	62/111 (56)	4/8 (50)
No available pathologists experienced in recognizing histopathologic features of CJD	–	69/111 (62)	1/8 (13)
aTSE, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.