• Peter Mygind Leth, Henrik Struckmann, and Jens Lauritsen.
• Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. pleth@health.sdu.dk
• Forensic Sci. Int. 2013 Feb 10; 225 (1-3): 15-9.

AbstractThe present study investigated the interobserver variation between a radiologist and a forensic pathologist in 994 injury diagnoses obtained by postmortem computed tomography (CT) of 67 traffic fatality victims, and the results were compared with diagnoses obtained by autopsy. The injuries were coded according to the abbreviated injury scale (AIS). We found a low interobserver variability for postmortem CT injury diagnoses, and the variability was the lowest for injuries with a high AIS severity score. The radiologist diagnosed more injuries than the pathologist, especially in the skeletal system, but the pathologist diagnosed more organ injuries. We recommend the use of a radiologist as a consultant for the evaluation of postmortem CT images. Training in radiology should be included in forensic medicine postgraduate training. CT was superior to autopsy in detecting abnormal air accumulations, but autopsy was superior to CT in the detection of organ injuries and aortic ruptures. We recommend a combination of CT and autopsy for the postmortem investigation of traffic fatality victims.Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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