Postmortem Whole-Body MRI in Traumatic Causes of Death

Ross, Steffen; Ebner, Lukas; Flach, Patricia M.; Brodhage, Rolf; Bolliger, Stephan A.; Christe, Andreas; Thali, Michael J.

doi:10.2214/ajr.12.8767

Cited by 43 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Aghayev et al [85][86][87] published several articles on the potential of PMMR and PMCT in thoracic trauma. A more recent study by Ross et al, 40 dedicated solely to PMMR, found higher overall sensitivity and specificity rates regarding the detection of traumatic findings in the chest than the prior studies. The discrepancy between these studies indirectly indicates the relevance of dedicated training in forensic imaging and reflects how the understanding of PMMR improved in recent years.…”

Section: Cardiovascular Imagingmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…The literature provides strong evidence that T 2 weighted MR images are of paramount importance in post-mortem imaging: their ability to highlight fluid accumulations makes them an ideal diagnostic tool for a wide range of pathologies, including subcutaneous haematoma, bone contusion, organ laceration, internal haemorrhage and fluid collections, ischaemic injury of the heart, brain oedema, pericardial or pleural effusion and pulmonary oedema. 6,19,23,31,[39][40][41][42][43][44] In our experience, STIR sequences are most suitable for screening purposes because they emphasize the signal from tissues with long T 2 relaxation times 45 and fluid accumulations literally flash like light bulbs when scrolling through images on STIR sequences. Thus, we refer to this phenomenon as the "forensic sentinel sign" ( Figure 6).…”

Section: Step 2: Basic Application Of Forensic Pmmrmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Essentials of forensic post-mortem MR imaging in adults

Ruder¹,

Thali²,

Hatch³

2014

BJR

114

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Section: Cardiovascular Imagingmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Step 2: Basic Application Of Forensic Pmmrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Essentials of forensic post-mortem MR imaging in adults

Ruder¹,

Thali²,

Hatch³

2014

BJR

114

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“…MRI, by contrast, can depict soft-tissue injuries and pathologies clearly [19][20][21][22]. By virtue of this method being non-ionizing, it is also the imaging method of choice when examining living victims of assault, such as manual strangulation (figure 5) [23][24][25].…”

Section: (B) Magnetic Resonance Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging and virtual autopsy: looking back and forward

Bolliger

Thali

2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

Self Cite

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In order to create a three-dimensional (3D) documentation of findings which can be reassessed if necessary by other experts, the research project ‘Virtopsy®’ was launched in the late 1990s. This project combined autopsy results with forensic imaging in the form of computed tomography, magnetic resonance tomography and 3D surface scanning. The success of this project eventually succeeded in convincing the courts in Switzerland to accept these novel methods as evidence. As opposition towards autopsies has grown over the last decades, Virtopsy also strives to find and elaborate additional methods which can answer the main forensic questions without autopsy. These methods comprise post-mortem angiography for illustration of the vascular bed and image-guided tissue and fluid sampling for histological, toxicological and microbiological examinations. Based on the promising results, post-mortem imaging, especially with 3D surface scanning, has meanwhile also been applied to living victims of assault, who have suffered patterned injuries due to bites, blows with objects, etc. In our opinion, forensic imaging is an objective method which offers the possibility for a reassessment of the findings by other experts, even after burial or cremation of the corpse, or healing of the injuries in living victims, thus leading to a greater security in court.

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“…Clinical scanning with MRI can detect marrow oedema in the absence of a radiologically visible fracture, 31,32 and it is now being used in post-mortem investigation and can be useful to "date" fractures. 33,34 MRI is also particularly appealing for the forensic examination of strangulation in the living, owing to its good soft tissue contrast resolution and lack of radiation exposure. 35,36 The biggest challenges to the scientific community to provide a rapid and efficient service are firstly logistical and financial.…”

Section: Traumatic Death and Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult post-mortem imaging in traumatic and cardiorespiratory death and its relation to clinical radiological imaging

Morgan¹,

Adlam²,

Robinson³

et al. 2014

BJR

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The use of post-mortem imaging is expanding throughout the world with increasing use of advanced imaging techniques, such as contrast-enhanced CT and MRI. The questions asked of post-mortem imaging are complex and can be very different, for example for natural sudden death investigation will focus on the cause, whereas for trauma the cause of death is often clear, but injury patterns may be very revealing in investigating the background to the incident. Postmortem imaging is different to clinical imaging regarding both the appearance of pathology and the information required, but there is much to learn from many years of clinical research in the use of these techniques. Furthermore, it is possible that post-mortem imaging research could be used not only for investigating the cause of death but also as a model to conduct clinically relevant research. This article reviews challenges to the development of post-mortem imaging for trauma, identification and cardiorespiratory death, and how they may be influenced by current clinical thinking and practice.

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Postmortem Whole-Body MRI in Traumatic Causes of Death

Cited by 43 publications

References 30 publications

Essentials of forensic post-mortem MR imaging in adults

Essentials of forensic post-mortem MR imaging in adults

Imaging and virtual autopsy: looking back and forward

Adult post-mortem imaging in traumatic and cardiorespiratory death and its relation to clinical radiological imaging

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