Experts to Discuss Using CT and MRI in Autopsy Practices

The Leicester Tigers Stadium conference, to be held at the Caterpillar Stand starting the 23rd of November, will be the first in the UK to witness discussions about the use of computed tomography (CT) scans and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in conducting autopsies. Arguing the validity of this idea will be the University of Leicester Head of Forensic Pathology, Professor Guy Rutty. He will be one of the keynote speakers in this unusual conference, which promises to yield some interesting discussions about the usefulness of employing such advanced and expensive scan techniques on the dead.

Rutty's qualifications make him one of the voices to be reckoned with in the field of forensic pathology. He is the former editor-in-chief of the respected scientific journal Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology, and also the East Midlands Forensic Pathology Unit chief forensic pathologist. “In modern times the use of CT and MRI has become an integral part of autopsy practice, in adults and children, throughout the world. As the role of these technologies is evolving, it has led to a substantial cultural change in the conduct of death investigations,” he says of his idea.

“Increasingly, publications from overseas groups have heralded the prospect of virtual or near-virtual autopsy examinations utilizing sophisticated imaging and targeted percutaneous sampling of tissue. This is an exciting prospect welcomed by those for whom the autopsy is an anathema and bureaucrats looking to overcome shortages in medical manpower. Whether CT or other more sophisticated imaging for that matter, will in the foreseeable future replace the autopsy rather than remaining as an adjunct to it, remains to be seen,” the expert adds.

Among the most important topics that will be discussed at the meeting, organizers include suspicious and homicide death investigations, as well as talks about natural death in children and adults. Topics about projectile-related fatalities will also be touched, as will aspects related to mass fatalities and identification investigations. The experts will then proceed to debating upon the merits and shortcomings of using high-throughput, mortuary-based CT scans in performing autopsies, AlphaGalileo reports.