Reconstruction of the angle of shot by using computed radiography of the head.
In a case of murder by a single .22 caliber bullet fragmented in the head, determination of the trajectory was a key issue in identifying which of 2 windows, 1 of which was associated with 2 suspects, was the site of fire. For this purpose, we processed the computed tomography of the victim's head by using a radiation therapy planning system called Plato, which is routinely used in radiation oncology. This tool provided a 3-dimensional reconstruction of the cranio-cerebral lesions and a spatial location of bullet and bone fragments. In this article is described the more intuitive relationship with forensic and ballistic data obtained from the 3-dimensional visualization and the physical and mathematical analysis used to calculate the angle of shot.
Marchetti
Daniela
D
Institute of Forensic Pathology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Tartaglione
Tommaso
T
Mattiu
Giancarlo
G
Giovine
Ennio
E
Fiori
Angelo
A
D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D020197:Head Injuries, Penetrating / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008961:Models, Structural; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*