ABSTRACT

The first documented use of X-rays in relation to the investigation of death was in 1896, when X-rays were used by Professor Schuster to assist in the investigation of a gunshot homicide in Manchester, England. In 1983, the application of computed tomography (CT), a newer radiological approach to autopsy practice, was reported. However, it was not until the twenty-first century that research was initiated to apply these radiological approaches – postmortem computed tomography (PMCT), postmortem magnetic resonance and, later, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) – to assist with the consideration of the postmortem interval. Some authors have considered the presence of livor mortis as detected by PMCT. Air and putrefactive gas are seen on PMCT within the vessels, organs, soft tissues and body cavities. Clinicians used to reporting PMCT scans will be aware that the micro-CT brain has an appearance of global hypoxic injury. C. S. Richards et al. applied micro-CT to examine the development of blowfly pupae.