Research Progress in Virtopsy of Drowning / 法医学杂志

Dead bodies found in the water are not all caused by drowning. The important task of forensic identification is to distinguish between entering the water before and after death, and to clarify the cause of death. In the practice of forensic identification, drowning is generally diagnosed on the basis of comprehensive considerations such as cadaveric signs, histopathological examinations, and diatom tests, with the exclusion of other causes of death. The emergence of virtopsy techniques provides new insights for the diagnosis of drowning. This paper reviews the post-mortem imaging studies of sinus and mastoid small chambers, respiratory tracts, lung tissues, gastrointestinal tracts and blood in the corpses in recent years. The value, potential of virtopsy in the diagnosis of drowning is discussed, with the prospects of its development direction.

Characteristic Changes and 3D Virtual Measurement of Lung CT Image Parameters in the Drowning Rabbit Model / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To use virtual anatomy technique in the analysis of post-mortem characteristic changes of CT images in the experimental drowning rabbit model and the related parameters in 3D virtual model, so as to explore its application value in the diagnosis of drowning in forensic pathology.@*METHODS@#A model of drowning rabbits was established, with animal models of hemorrhagic shock and mechanical asphyxia as the controls. CT scan was performed on the experimental animals, and the differences in imaging features between the groups were compared by morphological reading of the tomographic images. CT data were imported into Mimics 14.0 software for 3D modeling. The CT values and lung volumes were calculated by the software, and the differences on CT values and lung volumes brought by different causes of death were analyzed.@*RESULTS@#The CT images of lungs in the drowning group showed characteristic ground-glass opacity （diffuse and uniform density increase）. There were no obvious abnormalities in hemorrhagic shock group, and only a few similar changes were found in the mechanical asphyxia group. Compared with the controls, the CT values and the lung volumes in the drowning group were significantly increased P<0.05.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Based on post-mortem lung imaging, the combination of CT value and lung volume changes can effectively reflect the virtual anatomical features in drowning, and provide a diagnostic basis for the forensic identification of drowning.

Research Progress of Sudden Cardiac Death in Forensic Medicine / 法医学杂志

Sudden death (SD) is a special kind of death owing to disease,which severely threatening the lives of community population.As the most common type of SD,sudden cardiac death (SCD) has always been a crucial content of identification and research in forensic pathology.This article reviews the research progress from the aspects of epidemiology,morphology,molecular pathology and virtual anatomy of SCD in forensic medicine,so as to provide a reference for the morphological identification,determination of cause of death,and integrated control of this kind of SD.

Forensic Imaging for Causal Investigation of Death

A 63-year-old man was found in the street after overrun by a car. Postmortem CT revealed multiple bone fractures, but surprisingly all without any relevant hemorrhage which would have been expected under such circumstances. A round radiopaque formation was found in the duodenum, which was reminiscent of ingested tablets. The toxicological analysis revealed high concentrations of zopiclone and alcohol. By combining radiologic and forensic results, zopiclone and alcohol intoxication were concluded as the cause of death, followed by a postmortem overrun accident.

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.