Evaluation of thymic volume by postmortem computed tomography

Abstract

The thymus is exceedingly sensitive to stress and undergoes abrupt involution as a result of exposure to strong stress in early childhood. Therefore, thymic involution is often utilized to assess the presence of a stressful environment, such as an environment involving child abuse, in forensic medicine. In recent years, computed tomography (CT) has been commonly used in the daily practice of forensic medicine. We have focused on the thymic volume in postmortem CT images to evaluate the presence of a stressful antemortem environment. We calculated the thymus volume from postmortem CT images of children under six years old and demonstrated that the volume showed a positive correlation with the real weight obtained from an autopsy. The evaluation of thymic volume by CT may make it possible for us to identify child maltreatment. The most useful feature of this application of CT is to be able to demonstrate thymic involution less invasively in a surviving victim.

Keywords: Child abuse; Forensic autopsy; Postmortem computed tomography; Thymic involution.