2018/03/06

Forensic Magzine March 5, 2018: NIJ Advocates for CT Scans to Assist Forensic Pathologists

About 2.6 million people die in America each year. That results in an annual load of 500,000 post-mortem examinations. It’s well documented that there aren’t enough forensic pathologists—with some estimates showing the U.S. has only half of the staffing that’s really required for the caseload.

But implementing new imaging technologies, especially computed tomography (CT) scanning, in medical examiners’ offices could potentially be a game changer, according to a new publication by the National Institutes of Justice.

“There is a tremendous need to develop and implement advanced methods that could not only enhance autopsies diagnostically but also help combat this shortfall and reduce workloads,” write the authors, from the NIJ’s Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences.

Already the use of CT in and around autopsies is regular in Europe, Japan and Australia, they write. The three-dimensional images produced by multiple X-ray images show nuances of trauma and other pathology within a single image, they write.

For instance, a CT scan shows injuries in the bodies of burn victims or big car crashes, enabling a better examination of cause and manner of death—without the need for a lengthy “gross autopsy,” they add. more