Objective    To compare the clinical diagnoses with autopsy findings and evaluate the frequency of misdiagnosis.     Methods    The findings of 356 cases who were autopsied in our department due to medical treatment dispute during the period of 1988 to 2007 were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical diagnosis and autopsy findings

sex and age of the death

length of hospitalization

the hospital department

distribution of death disease and the rank of hospital were analyzed. The concordance between diagnosis before death and at autopsy was calculated.     Results    In 162 cases (45.5%)

the autopsy findings confirmed the clinical diagnosis. In 101 cases (28.4%)

the clinical diagnosis suggested by clinicians were discordant with the autopsy findings. In 63 cases (17.7%)

some diagnoses made by clinicians were proved by autopsy

and in 30 cases (8.4%)

the clinical and postmortem diagnosis were beyond comparison. The most frequently misdiagnosed diseases were from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases

and among them

cardiomyopathy

   aortic atherosclerosis and pneumonia were most common.     Conclusion    Autopsy is not only helpful for the management of medical dispute

but also beneficial to reduce the misdiagnosis in clinical practice.