Optical coherence tomography in forensic sciences: a review of the literature

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an interferometric imaging technique that has revolutionized clinical ophthalmology since the first half of the 1990's. Despite this approach being successfully employed in ophthalmology and having great potential in forensic cases, its use in different forensic fields appears to be quite limited. In this review we reviewed the scientific literature regarding the application of OCT in forensic science and legal medicine from 1995 to 2019. Our research showed the usefulness of this approach for the study of coronary injuries, postmortem ocular changes, forensic entomology, and several other applications of specific forensic interest (the study of blood stains, fingerprints, and hair bulbs for personal identification, as well as the study of materials found in the crime scene for comparation, or anti-fraud investigation). The creation of specific 'ad hoc' devices and a better knowledge of this type of technology by pathologists will be a fundamental step to continue to develop the use of OCT forensic fields.

Repeatability and reproducibility of post-mortem central corneal thickness measurements using a portable optical coherence tomography system in humans: a prospective multicenter study

“…Concluding, it is possible to state that this device should be valuable for corneal explantation or, in general, for corneal transplantology, and for forensic sciences. 20 …”

Fourier-Domain OCT Imaging of the Ocular Surface and Tear Film Dynamics: A Review of the State of the Art and an Integrative Model of the Tear Behavior during the Inter-Blink Period and Visual Fixation

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Forensic NMR metabolomics: one more arrow in the quiver

“…In the last decades, forensic science addressed several issues, which in the previous period were an unmet need, due to the inadequacy of the available scientific tools. Challenges such as human individualization, toxicological analysis on different biological specimens, and reproducible evaluation of pathological findings during autopsy have been solved by the introduction of DNA profile analysis on smaller and smaller stains (Prinz and Lessig 2014 ), by the development of Gas Chromatography (GC), Liquid Chromatography (LC), and Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) combined with Mass or Tandem-Mass Spectrometry (MS or MS/MS) methods for quantification of several drugs and their metabolites in human biological fluids (BFs) (Gottardo et al 2012 ; Drummer and Gerostamoulos 2014 ), and by the implementation of advanced imaging tools in the identification of the cause of death, such as Computed Tomography with or without contrast medium and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Ampanozi et al 2020 ), and Optical Coherence Tomography (Nioi et al 2019 ).…”