title: Forensic application of postmortem diffusion-weighted and diffusion tensor MR imaging of the human brain in situ.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  DWI and DTI of the brain have proved to be useful in many neurologic disorders and in traumatic brain injury. This prospective study aimed at the evaluation of the influence of the PMI and the cause of death on the ADC and FA for the application of DWI and DTI in forensic radiology.
  
  
  METHODS
  DWI and DTI of the brain were performed in situ in 20 deceased subjects with mapping of the ADC and FA. Evaluation was performed in different ROIs, and the influence of PMI and cause of death was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Postmortem ADC values of the brain were decreased by 49%-72% compared with healthy living controls. With increasing PMI, ADCs were significantly reduced when considering all ROIs together and, particularly, GM regions (all regions, P < .05; GM, P < .01), whereas there was no significant effect in WM. Concerning the cause of death, ADCs were significantly lower in mechanical and hypoxic brain injury than in brains from subjects having died from heart failure (traumatic brain injury, P < .005; hypoxia, P < .001). Postmortem FA was not significantly different from FA in living persons and showed no significant influence of PMI or cause of death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Performing postmortem DWI and DTI of the brain in situ can provide valuable information for application in forensic medicine. ADC could be used as an indicator of PMI and could help in the assessment of the cause of death.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical-Forensic Imaging, Graz, Austria. eva.scheurer@cfi.lbg.ac.at
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scheurer
authors.forename: K-O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Lovblad
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kreis
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boesch
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dirnhofer
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002423:Cause of Death; D002675:Child, Preschool; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult