title: Postmortem imaging of blood and its characteristics using MSCT and MRI.
abstract: The rapid development of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) led to the introduction and establishment in postmortem investigations. The objectives of this preliminary study were to describe the imaging appearances of the early postmortem changes of blood after cessation of the circulation, such as sedimentation, postmortem clotting, and internal livores, and to give a few first suggestions on how to differentiate them from other forensic findings. In the Virtopsy project, 95 human corpses underwent postmortem imaging by CT and MRI prior to traditional autopsy and therefore 44 cases have been investigated in this study. Postmortem alterations as well as the forensic relevant findings of the blood, such as internal or subcutaneous bleedings, are presented on the basis of their imaging appearances in multislice CT and MRI.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, IRM-Buehlstrasse 20, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. christian.jackowski@irm.unibe.ch
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jackowski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thali
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aghayev
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sonnenschein
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zwygart
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dirnhofer
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vock
mesh_terms: D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology; D001775:Blood Circulation; D001777:Blood Coagulation; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000473:pathology; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*