title: Feasibility of resuscitation contrast-enhanced postmortem computed tomography using cardiopulmonary resuscitation technique with chest compression immediately after death.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our purpose was to evaluate image delineation ability of contrast-enhanced post-mortem computed tomography (CEPMCT) using cardiopulmonary resuscitation technique of chest compression, named "resuscitation CEPMCT".
  
  
  METHODS
  Non-traumatically-deceased 15 subjects (7 men; 8 women) aged 19-87 years (mean 61 years) underwent resuscitation CEPMCT. The contrast-enhanced technique, while injecting 100 ml of contrast media from the right cubital vein at a rate of 1 ml/s, chest compression was performed for 2 minutes at a rate of 100 times/min (a total of 200 times). CT attenuation values (Hounsfield Unit: HU) were measured in 8 target vessels: 1) pulmonary artery, 2) coronary artery, 3) ascending aorta, 4) abdominal aorta, 5) celiac trunk, 6) common iliac artery, 7) superior vena cava, and 8) inferior vena cava. One-sided Student's t-test was performed to assess whether measured values were higher than 140 HU by setting p-value at 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Measured CT values in the 8 vessels were 1) pulmonary artery: 325 ± 140 HU, 2) coronary artery: 240 ± 73 HU, 3) ascending aorta: 321 ± 127 HU, 4) abdominal aorta: 286 ± 96 HU, 5) celiac trunk: 233 ± 62 HU, 6) common iliac artery: 260 ± 114 HU, 7) superior vena cava: 422 ± 187 HU, and 8) inferior vena cava: 301 ± 142 HU, showing significantly higher values than the threshold value of 140 HU. Resuscitation CEPMCT detected one case of pulmonary arterial thromboemboli death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Resuscitation CEPMCT using chest compression immediately after death has the possibility of detecting thromboembolus in major vessels, despite the simplicity of the technique.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, National Hospital Organization Matsumoto Medical Center, 2-20-30 muraimachiminami, Matsumoto, Nagano, 399-8701 Japan.
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iizuka
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Namiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan.
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shiotani
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center, Meguro, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Komatsuzaki
keywords: CT attenuation value; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); Chest compression; Contrast-enhanced PMCT (CEPMCT); Post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT)