The possibility and limitation of postmortem computed radiographic analysis of drug intoxication, cervical spine injury, and buthtub death.

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K09198
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Legal medicine
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Usui Akihito 東北大学, 医学系研究科, 助教 (90588394)
• Research Collaborator: FUNAYAMA masato ; KAWASUMI yusuke
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 法放射線学 / 法医学 / 放射線診断学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We assessed the slices of all stomach areas on consecutive axial CT images in 23 cases of death by oral drug overdose. Twenty cases (87%) cases showed high X-ray absorption in the stomach, while the other three cases (13%) did not demonstrate radio-dense stomach contents even though drug analysis detected lethal concentrations of drugs in the blood. Postmortem gastric CT images can provide useful information in cases of oral drug intoxication, but precise determination of the cause of death requires if there are empty drugs packages or a suicide note at the scene of death. Approximately 70% of the cases with cervical intervertebral separations had various abnormal findings on CT imaging. The CT findings were grouped into the following six categories: intervertebral gas, forward widening, spur fracture, anteroposterior misalignment, backward widening, and hematoma in front of a vertebral body. In bathtub death cases, the data was not stored to analysis.

Free Research Field

法医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

解剖による死因診断は重要であるが、これを担う解剖医が不足している現状では、多くの死体について正確に死因診断するのは困難である。そこで、国内に広く普及しているCT装置を使用することで、これを補い、薬物摂取を示唆可能であることや、見落としやすい頚椎損傷の診断ポイントを示したことは大きな意味があると考える。