VIRTOPSY—Scientific Documentation, Reconstruction and Animation in Forensic: Individual and Real 3D Data Based Geo-Metric Approach Including Optical Body/Object Surface and Radiological CT/MRI Scanning

Abstract

Until today, most of the documentation of forensic relevant medical findings is limited to traditional 2D photography, 2D conventional radiographs, sketches and verbal description. There are still some limitations of the classic documentation in forensic science especially if a 3D documentation is necessary. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate new 3D real data based geo-metric technology approaches. This paper present approaches to a 3D geo-metric documentation of injuries on the body surface and internal injuries in the living and deceased cases. Using modern imaging methods such as photogrammetry, optical surface and radiological CT/MRI scanning in combination it could be demonstrated that a real, full 3D data based individual documentation of the body surface and internal structures is possible in a non-invasive and non-destructive manner. Using the data merging/fusing and animation possibilities, it is possible to answer reconstructive questions of the dynamic development of patterned injuries (morphologic imprints) and to evaluate the possibility, that they are matchable or linkable to suspected injury-causing instruments. For the first time, to our knowledge, the method of optical and radiological 3D scanning was used to document the forensic relevant injuries of human body in combination with vehicle damages. By this complementary documentation approach, individual forensic real data based analysis and animation were possible linking body injuries to vehicle deformations or damages. These data allow conclusions to be drawn for automobile accident research, optimization of vehicle safety (pedestrian and passenger) and for further development of crash dummies. Real 3D data based documentation opens a new horizon for scientific reconstruction and animation by bringing added value and a real quality improvement in forensic science.

Sex determination based on the analysis of a contemporary Polish population’s palatine bones: a computed tomography study of 1,200 patients

“…However, further studies are still necessary, as not all skeletal features have been investigated this way -including the hard palate. The potential benefits of using CT scans for sex determination are numerous -they allow to save time and effort (do not require time-consuming maceration of specimens), are nondestructive, produce a detailed 3-dimensional reconstruction, and allow to analyse large datasets from different populations in a relatively short period of time [18,20].…”

Virtopsy—noninvasive detection of occult bone lesions in postmortem MRI: additional information for traffic accident reconstruction

“…In the Virtopsy research project at the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Bern, radiological imaging techniques are used for the documentation and analysis of internal findings in addition to forensic medical examinations (http://www.virtopsy.com) [1,2]. Highly precise 3D surface scanning is employed for the documentation of external body findings and of the involved vehicles [3][4][5].…”

CT-Scanning in Forensic Medicine

“…In such cases it is of particular importance to obtain a volume of digitalized CT-data as this permits later comparisons with characteristics of the vehicle. The virtopsy group has applied photogrammetry for such comparisons (28).…”