UTILITY OF POSTMORTEM COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY IN TRAUMA VICTIMS

A possible way to circumvent the continuing decline in the number of a utopsies is to perform computed tomography after death. The present st udy compares the pathologic findings of postmortem CT tomography (PMCT ) in trauma fatalities with those disclosed upon conventional forensic autopsy. Within 6 hours of death, the bodies of 25 trauma victims und erwent total body CT scanning, all with permission of the relatives, f ollowed by conventional autopsy in 13 cases under court order. The pat hologist and roentgenologist were unaware of each other's findings. Th e pathologic findings of PMCT plus conventional autopsy provided more information than either examination alone. Of the total 127 pathologic findings, 44.9% were diagnosed by both conventional autopsy and PMCT, 29.9% were not revealed by PMCT, whereas conventional autopsy missed 25.2%, and PMCT detected more bone injuries than did autopsy, whereas the latter was superior to PMCT in discovering soft-tissue pathologic states. In all, PMCT revealed 70.5% and autopsy 74.8% of the pathologi c states. Although PMCT was not more effective than conventional autop sy in exposing pathologic entities, it increased the yield of findings when combined with conventional autopsy. Where conventional autopsy i s unattainable, PMCT may be effective in shedding light on the patholo gic state and mechanism of death in trauma fatalities.