The essential role of the autopsy is seen in its contributions to medical care, scientific research, and family counseling. Major contributions are also noted in forensic pathology as a means to determine cause-ofdeath for legal and medical experts. However, autopsy acceptance rates are quite low due to an array of reasons including delayed burials, faith, and moral burdening. Thus, non-invasive post-mortem imaging strategies are becoming increasingly popular. The objective of this literature review is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of numerous post-mortem imaging modalities and consider their benefits over the traditional autopsy. The need for expertise in image interpretation for pediatric and perinatal cases is also discussed. A variety of publications, totaling 32 pieces, were selected from available literature on the basis of relevance. These articles studied various perinatal and pediatric post-mortem imaging strategies and their applications in clinical practice. Key strategies include post-mortem MRI, post-mortem CT, fetal postmortem sonography, post-mortem computed tomographic angiography, and three-dimensional surface scanning. There is a general consensus that no standard model for post-mortem imaging currently exists in the United States and European countries. Amongst the imaging modems studied, post-mortem MRI has been acknowledged to show the greatest promise in diagnostic accuracy for fetal age groups. Most studies demonstrated that post-mortem CT had limited use for autopsy. Post-mortem imaging strategies for autopsy have high potential given their minimal invasiveness and increasing popularity. Furthermore, it is vital to crafting a global standard procedure for post-mortem imaging for prenatal, perinatal, and pediatric cases to better understand the cause of death, decomposition factors, and effects in-utero, and to provide an alternative to traditional autopsy.
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