About Us
A 60-year legacy of neuropathology excellence — now contributing to India's national brain bank initiative.
The Department of Histopathology, PGIMER, Chandigarh has the legacy of carrying out medical autopsy for more than the past 60 years. The department carries out perinatal, neonatal, paediatric as well as adult autopsies with various medical conditions. Till now more than 32,000 autopsies have been carried out which include a wide spectrum of disease conditions.
The founding stone of neuropathology in PGI was laid by Dr. Ashru Kumar Banerjee, a pioneer of neuropathology in the country. He had vast experience in both neoplastic and non-neoplastic neuropathology. He started the brain-cutting sessions every Tuesday morning.
His legacy was carried forward by stalwarts including Dr. Rakesh Kumar Vasishtha and Dr. Bishan Radotra, both trained in neuropathology in the United Kingdom. Dr. Vasishtha introduced muscle pathology in PGI. Dr. Radotra was a doyen in the field of non-neoplastic neuropathology, including demyelination.
In PGIMER, every Monday and Wednesday, a clinico-pathological conference (CPC) takes place, where interesting autopsy findings are discussed with clinicians. Many rare and unique cases of neuropathology have been presented in such sessions. Currently, neuropathology service is managed by Dr. Kirti Gupta and Dr. Debajyoti Chatterjee.
Under the national brain bank initiative, the Department of Histopathology, PGIMER joined this project under the leadership of Dr. Radotra. Dr. Nandita Kakkar, the current Head of Department, is the Principal Investigator of the project in PGI. The project is being actively carried out under the supervision of Dr. Debajyoti Chatterjee. Both formalin-fixed and fresh brain tissue of different conditions including neuro-infections, inflammation, tumours, and systemic diseases have been included in the brain bank for research purposes.