title: Introduction of autopsy imaging redefines the concept of autopsy: 37 cases of clinical experience.
abstract: A new autopsy imaging (AI) system was introduced at the Research Center Hospital for Charged Particle Therapy (RCCPT) in January 2000. Autopsy imaging is a postmortem and preautopsy diagnostic procedure using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Scanning is performed with a 1.5 Tesla MRI system before autopsy. The AI results are reported to the pathologist and, in light of this information, autopsy is performed with minute precision. Autopsy imaging was performed on 37 cancer cases. In seven cases, AI was less informative than the autopsy, but in 30 cases, more precise reports on the final diagnosis were available with the combined application of autopsy and AI than autopsy alone, particularly in eight limited autopsy cases. Thus, AI provides critical and supplementary information for autopsy; furthermore, AI itself is a unique imaging system of great importance.
authors: Section of Clinical Oncology, Research Center Hospital for Charged Particle Therapy, National Institute of Radiological Science, Chiba, Japan. e_hide@nirs.go.jp
authors: Hidefumi
authors: H
authors: Ezawa
authors: Ryuichi
authors: R
authors: Yoneyama
authors: Susumu
authors: S
authors: Kandatsu
authors: Kyosan
authors: K
authors: Yoshikawa
authors: Hirohiko
authors: H
authors: Tsujii
authors: Kenichi
authors: K
authors: Harigaya
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*