Use a scanner for an autopsy

High-tech scanners can be used to determine the cause of death in order to avoid a post-mortem autopsy of a bereaved family, according to a new study published in the Lancet on Nov. 22.

In England, a body will be screened after five days if there are signs of suspicion of murder. First, forensic physicians will cut the victim's abdomen followed by other internal organs.

Scientists at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford have experimented with two technologies: magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography (CT) scans to remove unnecessary effects on the body. Photographs of internal organs of 182 bodies.

The results show that magnetic resonance imaging can produce images of the internal organs of a third of the body while a CT scanner can produce images of more than 90 bodies.

Scanning by screening can identify some of the major causes of death as well as suspicious lesions that allow doctors to perform minimal surgery to find the cause.

However, some of the obstacles encountered are that these two methods are very expensive and require professionals to be well trained to operate the device and be able to explain the recorded image. In addition, the camera can not diagnose some causes leading death such as heart disease, blockage blood vessels ...

"The post-mortem image may not yet be considered as a common alternative to autopsies, but it is an available method of identifying the cause of death," said Ian Roberts, research author. He is also a professor of pathology at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.