Forensics Go High-Tech With CT Autopsies and in the ER Room

CT Scans are really proving to be useful in so many areas of health care...if you watch CSI - NY, you will see the crime lab routinely using a CT and MRI Scanner, as well as one of our favorite mobility tools, the i440D Tablet from Tablet Kiosk...BD

Radiologists are investigating the use of computed tomography (CT) as a tool for civilian medical examiners' autopsies in the United States. According to findings presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), CT autopsy has the potential to replace conventional autopsy in determining the cause of certain accidental deaths.

"Autopsy is mandatory in deaths involving gunshot wounds, but CT can serve as a powerful adjunct to the conventional exam," Dr. Daly said. "Performing CT imaging first may speed up a conventional autopsy, especially when it comes to locating ballistic fragments, which are so important to criminal investigations.

Forensics Go High-Tech With CT Autopsies

In the future, patients who arrive at a hospital Emergency Department complaining of chest pain may be diagnosed with a sophisticated CT scan. If the diagnosis is negative, the patient can go home "and the total time at the hospital will be much shorter than it is today.