The fourth incision: A few modifications in autopsy incisions.

Medico legal autopsy is a procedure, where there cannot be any omission on the part of the autopsy surgeon; all the part of the body must be examined for any kind of injury or any disease / deformity, all the cavities are to be opened and all the viscera must be examined for the findings. It is an art on the part of the autopsy surgeon to find out more and more information in relation to the death of the person so as to help the judiciary in administration of justice. He should be cautious not to mutilate the dead body so as to minimize the trauma to the already traumatized bereaved family of the deceased. Autopsy incision is to serve both the purposes - get maximum exposure of the body for proper detection of the wound and any other findings as well as to keep the integrity of the body intact for better acceptance for the relatives of the deceased. This paper is aimed to describe few new additions as well as modifications in the autopsy incisions to get maximum possible visualisation of the whole circumference of the body as well as keep the stitches hidden as far as possible.

Virtopsy: One step forward in the field of forensic medicine - A review.

Forensic medicine aims for the documentation of medical and other forensic findings in living and deceased persons, for the police and the judiciary system. Though in other branches of the specialty, newer techniques are part of daily routine, in autopsy, the same century old techniques are still being used. Virtopsy is one step ahead in this field which literally means virtual autopsy. New methods like 3D-surface scanning and modern radiological procedures like computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are becoming more and more part of scientific research in forensic sciences and are today part of the routine workflow in a some institutes of legal medicine. This paper is aimed to discuss a few points in the field of Virtopsy.

Study of pattern of injuries in homicidal firearm injury cases.

Invention of fire has brought about a turning point to Human civilisation, but, invention of the firearm has come as a curse to human civilisation. Firearm is fast becoming a major killing apparatus and taking away innumerable valuable human life day by day. This study was aimed to find out the pattern of injury in homicidal firearm injury cases of different motives and also to find out the most vulnerable portion of the body so as to minimise the loss of human life. In this study a total of 108 cases of homicidal firearm injury were studied. Extremist violence and encounters accounts for 81.5% of the cases and in 13 (12.0%) cases the motive behind the killings could not be determined. Most of the victims were males having bullet injuries in their chest (59 cases), caused by rifled firearm weapons, and died because of haemorrhage and shock.

Bones unveiled gruesome murder.

A bundle of bone in a carton was sent to the Deptt. of Forensic Medicine, Guwahati Medical College for autopsy. Police suspected that the bones belonged to a young boy of Guwahati who was kidnapped and ransom demanded. Systematic examination revealed that the bones belonged to a single human being, sex was male and the age was ascertained to be between 16 to 18 years. The stature was calculated from long bones to be 160.4 cm ± 3.9 cm. The skull showed one ante mortem incised wound over the right parietal bone involving both the tables. The time since death was estimated to be 1 to 2 years. The skull, scapula, hip bone and one femur were sent to State Forensic Science Laboratory for Superimposition, DNA typing and Chemical analysis. Superimposition could not be carried out and report of DNA typing not received. Chemical analysis gave negative test for common poisons. Opinion regarding the cause of death was given subsequently as coma resulting from homicidal incised wound of the skull. The autopsy report, corroborative evidences and subsequent investigation by the police confirmed the suspicion of police.