Body recovery from hostile environments--a test of three kits.

Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) procedures and protocols have largely been standardised through the creation of, and amendments to, the INTERPOL DVI Guide. Whilst robust in addressing the recovery of mass fatality victims resulting from natural disasters, accidents and acts of terrorism, the guide does not explore the problematic issue of recovery of fatalities during active conflicts or peacekeeping operations where the environment may be hostile and the time taken to perform the task may impact significantly on the risk of injury or additional fatalities. This study tested the viability of the current UK style body recovery kit for use in a hostile environment simulation and compared its performance to two new bespoke kits specifically designed by the first author for this purpose. The aim was to recover the maximum amount of available physical evidence to support possible future judicial review, maintain respectful dignity for the deceased and focus on the safety of those fulfilling this task who may be operating on the front line. The kits were tested by military personnel experienced in hostile environment deployment. The trials showed that the time taken to record and recover the deceased could be reduced from 40 min using the standard DVI kit to just over 2 min using a bespoke kit. It was also shown that evidential recovery was not adversely affected and it is suggested that personal safety could be significantly enhanced if the proposed methodology and kit were adopted.

Stereotactic brain biopsy using a narrow aperture computed tomography scanner.

A technique for stereotactic brain biopsy with guidance by computed tomography (CT) has been developed and the procedure carried out on a series of 12 patients. A head fixation device, based on the Leksell method, has been designed which allows exact transfer of CT co-ordinates to a Bennett stereotactic frame for the purpose of the biopsy. The development and initial experience of this stereotactic technique in 12 cases is reported and the accuracy of the method confirmed by histological examination and post-operative CT verification of the biopsy site, by means of a small marker inserted at the time of surgery.

Antenatal detection of recurrence of Majewski dwarf (short rib-polydactyly syndrome type II Majewski).

Two cases of Majewski dwarfism are reported. both were the product of the same non-consanguinous marriage and each exhibited the key features of this syndrome: polysyndactyly, short ribs, cleft lip, disproportionately short tibiae and a normal pelvis. The first infant, a baby boy, died shortly after birth, whilst the second was detected prenatally by ultrasound and had female characteristics. Several skeletal dysplasias have been demonstrated in utero by ultrasound, but we believe this to be the first reported case of a Majewski dwarf detected by this method. In view of the difficulty in diagnosis of this syndrome comparison is made with other short rib-polydactyly syndromes.