High-speed documented experimental gunshot to a skull-brain model and radiologic virtual autopsy

Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2002 Sep;23(3):223-8. doi: 10.1097/00000433-200209000-00003.

Abstract

The authors documented and evaluated experimental gunshots to a skull-brain model with high-speed photography and subsequent radiographic examination for comparison of the morphologic findings in the model. The artificial skull was a polyurethane ball constructed in layers, with a porous diploe sandwiched between a tabula externa and a tabula interna. The brain itself was simulated with gelatin 10% at 4 degrees C, a material well known in wound ballistics. Gunshots were fired at the model from a distance of 10 m and documented with high-speed photography (up to 50 million frames/sec). Subsequently, a complete examination of the artificial skull was performed, including spiral computed tomography (with two-dimensional and three-dimensional reconstructions) and classic skull autopsy. The high-speed photographs clearly showed the dynamic development of the skull fracture system from an external perspective. The subsequent radiographic examination of the entire head volume created two-dimensional reformations in any plane and three-dimensional reconstructions of the gunshot injury of the polyurethane skull-brain model, especially the wound channel and the fracture system. Thanks to the model and high-speed photographs, the dynamic development of the morphology of a gunshot wound could be documented and studied. The data from computed tomography, using two-dimensional and three-dimensional postprocessing with a perspective view, were very similar to those from classic head autopsy, but derived in a hands-off and nondestructive manner. This examination method leads the way to radiographic digital autopsy or virtual autopsy.

MeSH terms

  • Autopsy / methods
  • Forensic Medicine / methods
  • Head Injuries, Penetrating / diagnostic imaging*
  • Head Injuries, Penetrating / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional
  • Models, Anatomic*
  • Photography
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed
  • Wounds, Gunshot / diagnostic imaging*
  • Wounds, Gunshot / pathology*