Preliminary application of 64-slice multislice computed tomography in postmortem after a road traffic accident / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the value of 64-slice multislice computed tomography (MSCT)in full-body postmortem examination after a road traffic accident.Methods The process of road traffic accident involving a pedestrian was obtained from scene monitoring photographic recordings and scene investigation photos.First,the external autopsy was performed by professional forensic pathologist who then reported the autopsy results.Then,64-slice MSCT was employed to perform a full-body scanning,when the CT sectional images were processed with muhiplanar and 3D reconstructions.The CT imaging results were then compared with the autopsy findings to find difference.Results The external autopsy found many soft tissue injuries over the body,subarachnoid hemorrhage,haematothorax,multiple rib fractures and nasal bone fractures and viewed that craniocerebral injury and thoracic injury caused the death after road traffic accident.While 64-slice MSCT revealed severe injuries in many organs including head,chest,abdomen,pelvis and spine.Conclusions Compared with the external autopsy,64-slice MSCT can obtain more important information of tissue and organ injuries.Combined use of 64-slice MSCT and external autopsy can provide sufficient and reliable proofs for identification of road traffic accident injuries.