Postmortem Radiology of Fatal Hemorrhage: Measurements of Cross-Sectional Areas of Major Blood Vessels and Volumes of Aorta and Spleen on MDCT and Volumes of Heart Chambers on MRI

Abstract

For the quantitative differentiation of fatal hemorrhage from other causes of death, we propose a three-step algorithm with measurements of the diameter of the right pulmonary artery, the cross-sectional area of the main pulmonary artery, and the volume of the right atrium (specificity, 100%; sensitivity, 95%). However, this algorithm must be corroborated in a prospective study, which would eliminate the limitations of this study. Quantitative postmortem cross-sectional imaging might become a reliable objective method to assess the question of fatal hemorrhage in forensic medicine.