Forensic sciences embrace the digital age
14 Apr 2010 by Evoluted New Media
Imagine carrying out a post-mortem where you never have to cut into the human body – forensic scientists are making this a reality with the introduction of the virtopsy.
Imagine carrying out a post-mortem where you never have to cut into the human body – forensic scientists are making this a reality with the introduction of the virtopsy.
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Virtobot records the contours of a cadaver under examination. Credit: Centre of Forensics Imaging and Virtopsy, Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Bern/SNSF |
A virtopsy – or virtual autopsy – enables scientists to perform a post-mortem examination on the basis of high definition magnetic resonance imagers (MRI) and computer tomography (CT).
Michael Thali and his team at the University of Bern’s Institute of Forensic Medicine use a specialised robot assistant – the Virtobot – in their virtopsy lab. The Virtobot projects a light bar onto the corpse being examined and images the texture of the skin while the body is imaged in high definition using a digital stereo camera.
“We harmonise these surface images with the three-dimensional CR data of the entire body,” explains Lars Ebert, who programmed Virtobot. Forensic doctors end up with a high-precision, three-dimensional image of the body that can be examined on-screen from all angles, both internally and externally.
This combination means that a cadaver can be digitally preserved and further autopsies can be conducted if new evidence emerges in an unsolved case.
“The virtopsy is more accurate than the traditional post-mortem,” Thali told Laboratory News, “The virtopsy documents the cause of death and gives a perfect reconstruction in 3D. Essentially traditional post-mortems destroys the body, but 3D data can be revisited; you can take measurements from the virtual data, looking at entrance and exit wounds for example.”
Thali believes that in five to ten years time, all universities will have the Virtobot and virtopsy equipment at their institutes. “Ten years ago when we started, people thought we were crazy,” he said, “But now people are becoming aware of the technology and are becoming more interested in the tool. Virtopsies are even becoming useful in law courts.”
