Mobile Forensics: Repeatable and Non-Repeatable Technical Assessments.

This paper presents several scenarios where digital evidence can be collected from mobile devices, their legal value keeping untouched. The paper describes a robust methodology for mobile forensics developed through on-field experiences directly gained by the authors over the last 10 years and many real court cases. The results show that mobile forensics, digital analysis of smartphone Android or iOS can be obtained in two ways: on the one hand, data extraction must follow the best practice of the repeatability procedure; on the other hand, the extraction of the data must follow the best practice of the non-repeatability procedure. The laboratory study of the two methods for extracting digital data from mobile phones, for use as evidence in court trials, has shown that the same evidence can be obtained even when the procedure of unavailability of file mining activities has been adopted. Indeed, thanks to laboratory tests, the existence of multiple files frequently and continuously subjected to changes generated by the presence of several hashes found at forensic extractions conducted in very short moments of time (sometimes not exceeding 15 min) has been proven. If, on the other hand, the examination of a device is entrusted to a judicial police officer in order to conduct a forensic analysis to acquire data produced and managed by the user (such as images, audio, video, documents, SMS, MMS, chat conversations, address book content, etc.) we have sufficient grounds to believe that such examination can be organized according to the system of repeatable technical assessments.

The role of emergency presentation and revascularization in aneurysms of the peripancreatic arteries secondary to celiac trunk or superior mesenteric artery occlusion.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to analyze our 10-year experience in the treatment of aneurysms of the collateral circulation secondary to steno-occlusions of the celiac trunk (CT) or superior mesenteric artery (SMA). METHODS: In the last 10 years, 32 celiac-mesenteric aneurysms were detected (25 true aneurysms and seven pseudoaneurysms) in 25 patients with steno-occlusion of the CT or SMA. All cases were diagnosed and treated at our center, with either surgical or endovascular approach. As open surgery, we performed aneurysmectomy and revascularization; as endovascular treatment we performed both the embolization (or graft exclusion) of the aneurysm sac, and embolization of afferent and efferent arteries. RESULTS: Sixteen patients (64%) underwent endovascular treatment, accounting for 66% of aneurysms (21/32). Six patients (24%) and seven associated aneurysms (22%) underwent open surgery. Three asymptomatic patients (12%), representing a total of four aneurysms (12%), were not treated. For endovascular procedures, the technical success rate was 90%, with a 56% clinical success rate. For open surgery, clinical and technical success were achieved in five patients (83%) and six procedures (86%), respectively. Sixty-eight percent of patients (17/25) were treated in an emergency setting, using either endovascular (88%) or open (12%) approaches. Although technical success was achieved in more than 85% of these procedures for both approaches, clinical success was reached less frequently among patients with an acute presentation (P = .041). Regardless of the type of treatment, CT or SMA revascularization during the first procedure did not show an increased rate of clinical success (P = .531). However, we reported four cases of visceral ischemia after an endovascular approach without revascularization, with three open surgical corrections required. The mean follow-up was 41 months (range, 0-136 months). CONCLUSIONS: Neither of the approaches described qualifies as a standard optimal choice. We suggest a tailored therapeutic approach based on the clinical condition at the time of diagnosis and specific vascular anatomy.

[Endovascular treatment for bleeding gastroduodenal pseudoaneurysm after acute pancreatits]. / Trattamento endovascolare di pseudoaneurisma rotto dell'arteria gastroduodenale in esiti di pancreatite acuta.

INTRODUCTION: Peripancreatic arterial pseudoaneurysm is a rare but potentially lethal complication of severe acute pancreatitis because it can massively bleed into the gastrointestinal tract. Since surgical treatment of such cases has a high mortality, percutaneous angiographic embolization of bleeding artery has recently been advocated as an alternative therapy. We report a case of acute pancreatitis complicated by gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to a ruptured gastroduodenal artery pseudoaneurysm, in which hemostasis was achieved by transcatheter arterial embolization. CLINICAL CASE: A 65-year-old woman was transferred from another hospital with a diagnosis of severe acute biliary pancreatitis, and having had hematemesis. Upper GI endoscopy detected bleeding from the papilla of Vater, and CT showed hemorrhage in a pseudocyst at the pancreatic head. Angiography revealed active bleeding from an arterial pseudoaneurysm of the gastroduodenal artery: hematemesis was considered to result from rupture of the pseudoaneurysm (hemosuccus). Transcatheter arterial embolization was performed by a 2-step procedure, both through the celiac trunk, that was stenotic, and through the superior mesenteric artery, and hemostasis was achieved. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that transcatheter arterial embolization is a minimally invasive and highly effective treatment for acute bleeding from a ruptured pseudoaneurysm secondary to acute pancreatitis.