The term “post-mortem examination” refers to any form of examinations that are carried out after death. While necropsy (look at the dead) and autopsy (see for oneself) are also used together with post-mortem examination, the word “autopsy” is more accurate in matching the procedural aim: to observe the body directly than to depend on disease indicators like signs and symptoms. Forensic medicine, on the other hand, comes as a subset of medical jurisprudence. It involves retrieving and analysing of medical evidences from samples to formulate objective information in legal usage.
The word “Virtopsy” is a verbal combination or portmanteau of the words “virtual” and “autopsy”, which literally means virtual alternatives to traditional autopsy. “Virtual”
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This is as opposed to traditional autopsy, where any form of samplings would be possible. Furthermore, if these non-invasive techniques are carried out slightly longer after death due to delays, decomposition-induced artifacts would begin to form. These artifacts will once again affect the accuracy of the analysis and cause possible confusion to the coroner/analyst reading the scan pictures (Burton & Underwood, 2007). These challenges pose a significant challenge to the forensic medicine …show more content…
These improvements typically comes in because resolution of MSCT and MRI were not enough for forensic analysis (Thali et al., 2004). Micro-CT is basically a specialised CT with much higher spatial resolution that is very useful in analysing bone structure with patterned injury (Thali et al., 2003). Micro-MR, on the other hand, means magnetic resonance microscopy or MRM. According to Thali et al. (2004), it is very useful in analysing soft tissues injury patterns. Study was conducted to evaluate injury extents caused by electric traumas to investigate the pathophysiology on a microscopic level (Thali et al., 2004). MRS, is however a technique useful for estimating Post-Mortem Interval (PMI) or the time after a person died. Before this, standard methods are based on the temperature of corpse but they are limited to around 48 hours after death (Ith et al., 2010). MRS makes use of 1H within decomposing brain tissue to estimate the PMI more than 48 hours of death (Ith et al., 2010). It is however not as widely use currently as the estimation is affected by temperature and temporal