TY - JOUR PY - 2004// TI - Virtopsy--fatal motor vehicle accident with head injury JO - Journal of forensic sciences A1 - Dirnhofer, R. A1 - Vock, Peter A1 - Yen, Kathrin A1 - Sonnenschein, Martin A1 - Jackowski, Christian A1 - Thali, Michael A1 - Aghayev, Emin SP - 809 EP - 813 VL - 49 IS - 4 N2 - A man wearing no protective helmet was struck by a motor vehicle while riding a bicycle. He was loaded on his left side, and the impact point of his head was his occiput on the car roof girder. He was immediately transported to the general hospital, where he passed away. Postmortem examination using multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) revealed an extensively comminuted fracture of the posterior part and the base of the skull. Observed were deep direct and contrecoup brain bruises, with the independent fractures of the roof of the both orbits. Massive subdural and subarachnoidal hemorrhage with cerebral edema and shifting of the mid-line towards left side were also detected. MSCT and autopsy results were compared and the body injuries were correlated to vehicle damages. In conclusion, postmortem imaging is a good forensic visualization tool with great potential for documentation and examination of body injuries and pathology. LA - SN - 0022-1198 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -