Digital Autopsy: Popular Tools for an Unpopular Procedure

Abstract

Digital autopsy is the future of postmortem examination of the human body through digital visualization. Imaging modalities such as CT scanners and MRI scanners use X rays and magnetic fields to visualize the structures within the human body. The outputs from these modalities are obtained in a DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications of Medicine) format. They are in gray-scale consisting of information in every slice taken during the scan. This is rendered and visualized as the full body in a digital format during the digital autopsy procedure. The visualization rendering produces a three-dimensional body, further presented in colour format based on each structure of the human organ system. Digital autopsy is a technology which allows pathologists to navigate and explore deeper into the human body. It allows analysis to be done in both two-dimensional and three dimensional perspectives. Digital autopsy involves analysis of human pathology and anatomical findings for diagnostic purposes. It can also be used for education and research purposes. Another advantage of digital autopsy is the availability of information and data that can be easily and securely transferred to a different digital autopsy facility at a different location. Thus, digital autopsy provides an efficient, fast, cheaper and accurate post-mortem data enabling a forensic pathologists to play a more effective role in the criminal justice system.