Role of autopsy imaging in veterinary forensic medicine: experiences in 39 cases

Abstract

While numerous scientific studies have suggested the usefulness of autopsy imaging (Ai) in the field of human forensic medicine, the use of imaging modalities for the purpose of veterinary forensics is currently scant. The current study performed Ai on suspicious dead animals requested by the police department to determine their cause of death. Radiography and/or computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging were performed on 39 suspicious dead animals before necropsy. After diagnostic imaging, pathological examination was performed, with drug testing added as needed. Among the 39 cases, 28, 6, 3, 1, and 1 involved cats, dogs, rabbits, a ferret, and a pigeon, respectively. The major Ai findings included skull and rib fractures, subcutaneous emphysema, pneumothorax, pneumoperitoneum, diaphragmatic hernia, and abdominal rupture. The leading causes of death, determined comprehensively via Ai and pathological reports and drug test results, included traumatic impact, blood loss, poisoning, suffocation, tension pneumothorax, starvation, and drowning, all of which have been strongly suspected to indicate animal abuse by humans. All eight cases of skull fractures and all five cases of poisoning, including suspected poisoning, were of cats. As the numbers of dogs and cats in Japan are almost equal, violence against cats may occur more frequently than dogs. Ai can be a valuable examination tool for veterinary forensic cases. As computed tomography is useful for ruling out fractures that screening computed tomography before necropsy is a more practical option for veterinary forensics.

Families of Victims Often Reject Forensic Autopsies in Cases of Unnatural Death

“…Autopsy, also known as post-mortem examination, is a medical procedure generally understood as the surgical examination of a deceased human body. According to medical dictionaries, an autopsy is a post-mortem examination of a corpse to determine the cause of death or the nature of pathological changes, also known as necropsy (Danis, 2009) (Dhoble et al, 2022;Kaur et al, 2023;Kuatrakul & Vachirawongsakorn, 2023;Yamada et al, 2023).…”

Identification of time of death of cats according to histological changes in some organs

“…The classical methods are those most commonly used today, such as visual-palpatory, thermometry (Jeong et al, 2020); various biochemical methods, namely studying expression and concentration of proteins in the skeletal muscles (Saber et al, 2021;Piegari et al, 2023), concentrations of various substances in the vitreous body of corpse eyes (Garland et al, 2020;Perez-Martínez et al, 2020;Ave et al, 2021;De-Giorgio et al, 2021;Nioi et al, 2021;Rajamani et al, 2021;Sarkisova, 2021); methods of image analysis, such as computer tomography (Watson & Baucom, 2020;Yamada et al, 2023), magnetic resonance imaging (Sapienza et al, 2020;Yitbarek & Dagnaw, 2022;Zhang, 2022), and elastography (Garczynska et al, 2021). Other common methods are forensic-entomological examination (Byrd & Sutton, 2020;Byrd & Sutton, 2021;Ivorra et al, 2021;Matuszewski, 2021;Weidner & Hans, 2021;Ashraf, 2022), forensic taphonomy (Miles et al, 2020), DNA studies (Mori et al, 2021;Heba El-Sayed et al, 2023), and dental profiling (Viciano et al, 2022).…”