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- Title
Pandora's box.
- Authors
Gascho, Dominic; Bolliger, Stephan A.; Enders, Markus; Thali, Michael J.; Fliss, Barbara
- Abstract
Suitcases or other containers are occasionally involved in forensic investigations. If there is a suspicion that human remains are hidden inside such a container, medico-legal examinations are required. However, these containers are occasionally locked. Forced opening of a locked suitcase or container may cause damage to its contents. Additionally, the safety of the investigator has to be considered as such containers may be booby-trapped or contain other hazardous material. An overview of the contents before opening is desirable in order to avoid the possibility of encountering a Pandora's box. In forensic medicine, an established approach to examine the inside of a body before opening at autopsy is postmortem computed tomography (CT). However, there may be a reluctance to use this approach for suitcases or containers with metallic components because of the assumption that severe metal artifacts will result in inadequate images. In this article, we present a forensic case in which a CT scan of a metallic suitcase was performed in order to examine its contents. Additionally, we performed an experimental scan of a conventional safe in order to determine if CT is able to reveal the contents of such a highly radiopaque storage box.
- Subjects
FORENSIC medicine; COMPUTED tomography; IMAGE analysis; AUTOPSY; SUITCASES
- Publication
Forensic Science, Medicine & Pathology, 2018, Vol 14, Issue 1, p120
- ISSN
1547-769X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s12024-018-9948-z