Diagnosis of sudden death using postmortem CT

Abstract Purpose The judgement of “sudden death” or “non-sudden death” is important in forensic diagnosis. Although postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) is widely used to determine the course of death, judgement of sudden death or non-sudden death based on PMCT findings has not been examined. The relationships between PMCT findings in the heart and great vessels and sudden death (SD) were examined in this study. Methods We evaluated the blood characteristics of 182 (139 SD and 43 non-SD) forensic cases using not only PMCT but also an autopsy. In the PMCT examination, we observed the findings of six intravascular regions: the ascending aorta, the aortic arch, the descending aorta, the right atrium, the right ventricle, and the pulmonary artery trunk. In the SD cases, at least one region showed the fluid–fluid level (FFL) through PMCT imaging, while the autopsy showed the cadaveric blood fluidity. Results The CT findings of FFL were significantly associated with SD cases (p Conclusion These results suggest that PMCT imaging is useful for the diagnosis ofSD.