title: Virtual autopsy with multidetector computed tomography of three cases of charred bodies.
abstract: Herein, we report a comparison of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and autopsy in the evaluation of three cases of charred human bodies. Interestingly, MDCT identified several findings useful for forensic purposes, including traumatic injuries not related to the fire, relevant vital reaction signs and detection of foreign bodies. Our results, in addition to data gathered in previous studies, indicate that MDCT is an excellent tool for imaging in postmortem investigations and that it has great potential for the forensic documentation and examination of charred bodies.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, Catholic University, Rome, Italy. francesca.cittadini@rm.unicatt.it
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cittadini
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Polacco
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: D'Alessio
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tartaglione
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Giorgio
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oliva
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zobel
authors.forename: Vincenzo L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Pascali
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001344:Autopsy / Q000379:methods*; D002056:Burns / Q000473:pathology*; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000473:pathology