Indications du scanner post-mortem à l’Institut médico-légal de Paris en 2021–2022

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate recent developments of large-scale post-mortem CT (PMCT) in the forensic practice at the Paris Forensic Institute.Methods: All decedents who underwent a PMCT between 2021 and 2022 were included. Variables, extracted from the PMCT information form and report metadata, included: demographic characteristics, context, degree of urgency, identity knowledge, use of CT for comparative identification, time from PMCT to radiology report.Results: 1775 PMCT were performed on request of 5 different courts. Decedents were mostly male (n=1256, 71%) and median age was 58 years (IQR 43-72). The 3 most frequent contexts were: traumatic death (n=618, 35%), unknown cause of death in preserved (n=593, 33%) or putrefied decedents (n=434, 25%). Identity was unknown in 164 (9%) decedents and supposed in 504 (29%) cases, among which a comparative identification was successfully performed using CT in 41/504 (8%) patients. The median delay from PMCT to radiologic report was 6h (IQR 1.8-18.6hrs) and was significantly shorter for urgent as compared to non-urgent reports (2.3 hours [IQR 1.2-6.1] vs. 8.4 hours [IQR 2.4-21.4], p<0.001).Conclusion: Large-scale PMCT usage is possible in forensic setting, in varied indications and contexts. Fast edition of radiologic reports allows its integration into time constraints of the judiciary system.