Synopsis of Postmortem CT and CT Angiography for Death Investigation
Heon Lee, Sookyoung Lee, Jang Gyu Cha, Taewha Baik, Kyung-moo Yang
130,000 123,500won
The idea for writing the book “Synopsis of Postmortem CT and CT Angiography for Death Investigation” originated from a sincere and longstanding collaboration between clinical radiologists at Soonchunhyang Uni\-versity Hospital Bucheon and forensic pathologists working for the National Forensic Service, Republic of Korea (NFS Korea). Over the past 10 years, they have been at the forefront of introducing and operating computed tomography (CT) systems in forensic and medicolegal death investigations in Korea. Their unique partnership helped them to implement a head-to-head comparison between imaging findings and autopsy results. This direct radiological-pathological comparison has provided excellent learning tools and opportunities for both radiologists and pathologists to address a wide variety of challenging forensic and medicolegal questions. We believe that this collaboration of expertise based on mutual understanding will continue to benefit forensic science for many years to come.
In recent years, with the introduction of modern imaging technology into the forensic field, postmortem cross-sectional imaging, particularly CT and CT angiography, has gained increasing attention in the field of death investigation worldwide. These CT techniques play roles in screening for potential pathologies, guiding subsequent autopsy dissection to the target area, and identifying lesions that are difficult or impossible to detect during conventional autopsy dissection. For clinical radiologists, it has always been essential to understand the pathological basis of disease for accurate interpretation of imaging studies in clinical settings. In addition, knowledge of normal postmortem changes in tissue and the corresponding CT findings that may produce artifacts is required for death investigations. Furthermore, to obtain the greatest benefit from these imaging techniques, pathologists are strongly recommended to have an understanding of the basic principles behind CT (i.e., how CT images are produced, reconstructed, and interpreted). This understanding is especially important when real-time assistance in CT acquisition and image interpretation from forensic radiologists is unavailable.
We believe that this small book will be particularly useful for forensic pathologists and clinical radiologists who expect to be involved in PMCT imaging or who have a plan to use CT for forensic purposes in their institutions, thus providing a practical and informative guide to PMCT imaging. We also hope that this book helps those interested in or involved with forensic science, regardless of their specialty, to understand better the current role and future potential of imaging in daily death investigation.
