Postmortem lung features in drowning cases on computed tomography.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to compare postmortem chest computed tomography (CT) features of drowning cases with autopsy findings, and to classify these features.


METHODS
We performed a retrospective analysis of high-resolution and multi-planar reconstruction chest CT images of drowning in 92 adults (54 men, 38 women; mean age 65.4 years) scanned before forensic autopsy. The average lung CT number was calculated from whole-lung images reconstructed on a 3D workstation. The statistically significant differences of CT numbers were assessed with an alpha level of 0.05.


RESULTS
Postmortem chest CT image patterns were classified into six types: the two main types were ground-glass opacities with thickened pulmonary interstitium (n = 31), and a centrilobular distribution of ill-defined nodules along the airways (n = 38). Some cases were mixed type (n = 10). There were significant differences in CT numbers between each type. The remaining three types were consolidation (n = 5), emphysema and/or fibrosis (n = 4), and unclassifiable (n = 4).


CONCLUSIONS
Postmortem CT images of drowning cases can be classified into three major types with a few exceptions.
Department of Diagnostic Image Analysis, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Sendai, 980-8575, Japan, t7402r0506@med.tohoku.ac.jp.
Akihito
A
Usui
Yusuke
Y
Kawasumi
Masato
M
Funayama
Haruo
H
Saito
D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D004332:Drowning / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*