Virtopsy

Virtopsy is a virtual alternative to a traditional autopsy, conducted with scanning and imaging technology. The name is a portmanteau of "virtual" and "autopsy" and is a trademark registered to Richard Dirnhofer, the former head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Bern, Switzerland. Dirnhofer has proposed virtopsy as a partial or complete replacement for traditional autopsy, and he has asserted that virtopsy fully satisfies the requirement that medical forensic findings provide "a complete and true picture of the object examined". Furthermore, virtopsy is said to achieve the objective "that the pathologist's report should 'photograph' with words so that the reader is able to follow his thoughts visually".

Virtopsy is a virtual alternative to a traditional autopsy, conducted with scanning and imaging technology. The name is a portmanteau of "virtual" and "autopsy" and is a trademark registered to Richard Dirnhofer, the former head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Bern, Switzerland. Dirnhofer has proposed virtopsy as a partial or complete replacement for traditional autopsy, and he has asserted that virtopsy fully satisfies the requirement that medical forensic findings provide "a complete and true picture of the object examined". Furthermore, virtopsy is said to achieve the objective "that the pathologist's report should 'photograph' with words so that the reader is able to follow his thoughts visually". ==Concept== Virtopsy employs imaging methods that are also used in clinical medicine such as computed tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Also, 3D body surface scanning is used to integrate body surface documentation with 3D scene or tool scans. The choice of methods is further supplemented with 3D imaging-guided biopsy systems and post-mortem angiography. CT is well suited to show foreign objects, bone and air or gas distribution throughout the body, whereas MRI sequences are strong in detailing organ and soft tissue findings. A comprehensive analysis of both surface and deep tissue findings may require fusion of CT, MRI and 3D surface data. Resulting data can be archived and reproduced without loss, analysed elsewhere, or distributed to specialists for technically demanding analysis. Because traditional autopsies can produce both different and additional findings compared to virtopsies, virtopsy is not a generally accepted method to entirely replace autopsies. In fact, the first scientific study detailing the results of comparing postmortem CT scanning with conventional autopsies concluded that single methods were not as useful as the combination of scanning and autopsy were. ==Terms== The term "Virtobot" is a trademark also registered to Prof. R. Dirnhofer. It describes a multi-functional robotic system. The "Virtangio" machine is a device that is trademarked to Prof. R. Dirnhofer and manufactured by Fumedica ==Operative aspects== With Prof. Michael Thali as operative head of the group, the virtopsy research team has operated out of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Zurich, Switzerland since early 2011. ===Examination of death=== The idea to conduct virtual autopsy is not new. In 2003, the British Museum contacted the Institute of Forensic Medicine for their help performing a virtopsy on a 3000-year-old mummy named Nesperennub, as an autopsy could not be done without compromising the body. While manner of death, cause of death, time of death, identification of deceased and a range of practical and reconstructive applications are obviously related to medicolegal investigation of death, virtopsy methods were ground breaking in that they have established a new high-tech toolbox into both research and practice morphological investigation aspects of modern forensic pathology. Since virtopsy is non-invasive, it can be less traumatic for surviving family members and may not violate religious taboos against violating bodily integrity. ===Examination of the living=== Non-invasive imaging is also conducted in living or surviving subjects, but as that has been the main clinical application of CT and MR imaging to begin with, their use in medicolegal investigation of the living is not as ground breaking as using them for investigation of death. Nevertheless, a number of applications that may be regarded as specific for medicolegal imaging applications in the living have found attraction for virtopsy-derived methods: Matching weapon or injury-causing agent and injury. The application of 3D surface documentation of injuries for the benefit of medicolegal reconstruction must be accredited to Brueschweiler et al. (2003). Strangulation and estimation of risk of death. The first paper documenting systematic application of MRI to survivors of strangulation for the benefit of forensic medicine was published by Yen et al. in 2005. Body packing. According to a paper of the virtopsy group, CT scanning may be more suitable to body packer identification than conventional or plain abdominal X-rays. ==Virtopsy project leading house== [http://www.irm.uzh.ch/index.html Universität Zürich Institut für Rechtsmedizin The virtopsy website at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Zurich ==Institutes contributing to the Virtopsy project== [http://www.irm-bs.ch/ir/home.cfm Institut für Rechtsmedizin der Universität Basel Charité Berlin, Institut für Rechtsmedizin University of Bern, Institut für Rechtsmedizin Centre universitaire romand de médecine légale, Lausanne - Genève (CURML) ==Institutes, districts or countries conducting post-mortem scanning== India - 1. Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences- New Delhi 2. Department of Forensic Medicine, North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong. 3. Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology All India Institute of Medical Sciences- Rishikesh. AIIMS Rishikesh has started India’s first superspeciality course (D.M.) in Forensic Radiology and Virtual Autopsy. 4. Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS)- Imphal. Japan - Autopsy Imaging Australia - Melbourne - VIFM * Europe - Denmark - Odense - Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Southern Denmark United States - State of Maryland Medical Examiner [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nd9W5rjepo The Virtopsy Process The Virtopsy Table Virtual Autopsy Table Entwicklung des Systems, Interview mit Thali Virtopsy – Obduktion neu in Bildern; Dirnhofer/Schick/Ranner, Schriftenreihe Recht der Medizin, 2010 Manz Revolution in der Gerichtsmedizin erschienen in "Öffentliche Sicherheit 9-10/09 Die Virtopsie wird die Autopsie ablösen Erschienen in Kriminalpolizei Oktober/November 2009 ==References== Strengthening Forensic science in the USA National Research Council

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