Virtopsy: New Dimension in the Field of Forensic Medicine communities

Abstract

Forensic medicine aims for the documentation of medical and other forensic findings in living and deceased persons, for the police and the judiciary system. An Autopsy is a highly surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present. Though in other branches of the specialty, newer techniques are part of daily routine, in autopsy, the same century old techniques are still being used. Virtopsy is one step ahead in this field which literally means virtual autopsy. New methods like 3D-surface scanning and modern radiological procedures like computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are becoming more and more part of scientific research in forensic sciences and are today part of the routine work flow in a some institutes of legal medicine. This paper is aimed to discuss a few points in the field of Virtopsy.