Virtopsies

Virtual autopsies.

New Scientist magazine recently reported on the creation of a robot that performs “virtual autopsies”:

A team of forensic pathologists at the University of Bern in Switzerland reckon it could make autopsies more accurate and also less distressing for families.

The researchers are already pioneers of virtual autopsies, or “virtopsies,” which use non-invasive imaging of a body inside and out rather than the radical post-mortem surgery typically used to determine cause of death.

Now they are using a robot, dubbed Virtobot, to carry out parts of that process, making it more reliable – and standardised.

Their virtopsies combine 3D imaging of a body’s surface with a CT scan of its interior anatomy. The result is a faithful, high-resolution virtual double of the corpse … This double can be used to accurately determine what killed someone. And it’s a more tactful approach: only needle biopsies are used to sample tissues, leaving a body essentially undamaged.

Virtobot has already performed 52 virtopsies “in real cases, including 26 road deaths, 10 by impacts from a blunt object, six knifings, five shootings, and two throttlings.” Yet not everyone is convinced:

However, the president of the UK’s Royal College of Pathologists, Peter Furness, says that much longer term comparisons of virtopsies with conventional procedures are still needed. “The circumstances where this might be valuable are not well defined, the reliability of the approach is unclear and the cost can be considerable,” he says, adding that studies to work out just when a conventional autopsy is essential are under way.