Forensic doctors can uncover the truth in this way, and dissection can also be virtual? No need for surgical knife dissection | Virtual | Truth
Forensic doctors are told at the beginning of their career that their job is to make corpses "speak", and each corpse has a "password". Once cracked, they will directly point to the truth, and the tool for solving cases is a surgical knife. But you may not know that with the advancement of technology and technological advancements, current tomography imaging techniques can partially replace traditional "open" anatomical techniques. That is to say, by taking CT scans and performing MRI on the body, accurate information about death can be obtained.
On June 9th, at the theme event of "World Recognition Day" held by the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Forensic Pathology Research Office of the Judicial Appraisal Science Research Institute stood out among nearly a hundred application cases in the "First Promotion of Virtual Anatomy Inspection Technology Application, Leading the Digital and Intelligent Innovation of Judicial Appraisal Technology" project, and was awarded the 2023 Shanghai Inspection and Testing Innovation Case.
Yang Xu, member of the Party Committee and Vice President of the Sijian Academy, attended the award ceremony. He introduced that "virtual anatomy" can be defined as a non-invasive anatomical method that uses imaging techniques to construct images of human organ tissues, providing clues for determining the cause and mode of death. Through virtual dissection technology, problems related to forensic identity recognition, causes and modes of death, injury modes and reconstruction can be solved.
"The virtual anatomical inspection technology platform we have created is the first in China to promote inspection and detection technologies such as human CT/MRI scanning, cadaver angiography, 3D optical scanning, and artificial intelligence diagnosis. We have constructed non-invasive and repeatable virtual anatomical technologies to assist and replace traditional cadaver dissection, and have been applied in thousands of actual cases," said Zhang Jianhua, Deputy Director of the Forensic Pathology Research Office of the Judicial Appraisal Science Research Institute.
A few years ago, a man suffered a head injury due to a traffic accident. After improvement, he experienced recurrent nosebleeds within two months. Shortly thereafter, he experienced a sudden nosebleeds while seeking medical treatment and unfortunately passed away. "For forensic experts, the key issue is to determine the exact cause of nosebleeds and whether there is a causal relationship between death and traffic accidents." Zhang Jianhua said that after analysis, forensic experts believe that in the event of such a fatal nosebleeds, the first consideration is the cause of the rupture of the internal carotid artery at the base of the skull. However, the structure of the skull base is complex, and the internal carotid artery runs closely against the skull, which is an unconventional anatomical site. If traditional cadaver dissection techniques are still used, it is easy to cause damage and the exact cause cannot be determined.
So, the forensic team used virtual anatomy and cadaver angiography technology to successfully locate the vascular injury in the siphon bend of the left internal carotid artery of the deceased. Through meticulous cadaver dissection, a pseudoaneurysm in the sphenoid sinus was finally discovered. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the case, the cause of death was determined to be the formation and rupture of a pseudoaneurysm in the left internal carotid artery in the sphenoid sinus after a head injury in a traffic accident, leading to hemorrhagic shock. At this point, the truth has been restored, and the legitimate rights and interests of the deceased and their families have been protected.
"This case demonstrates the important value of virtual dissection technology in forensic cause of death identification. Currently, virtual dissection technology has relevant technical standards, combined with autopsy and autopsy, and the use of virtual dissection methods to form a lot of cause of death identification opinions can be used as court evidence." Zhang Jianhua said that although experienced experts are still needed to make judgments on certain complex or rare pathological changes, this technology has become an important supplement or even alternative to traditional dissection, effectively improving the technical level of solving difficult and complex cases.
