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Antemortem identification by fusion of MR and CT of the paranasal sinuses

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Abstract

Radiologic forensic identification is usually performed by comparing antemortem and postmortem radiographs. While computed tomography (CT) has become a valuable addition to radiologic identification, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has only rarely been used for this purpose. In our case, identification was accomplished using fused MR- and CT images in a survivor of a gunshot injury to the head. This case supports and highlights the possibility to perform intermodality radiologic identification comparing preexisting MR imaging to subsequently aquired CT data in living (or deceased) humans as long as manual modifications of windowing, color and contrast enable differentiation of the two modalities in the fused image.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to Emma Louise Kessler, MD for her generous donation to the Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

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Correspondence to Jakob Heimer.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.Ethical approval was obtained by the Ethics Committee of the Canton of Zurich, Nr. KEK ZH-Nr. 15-0686.

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Heimer, J., Gascho, D., Gentile, S. et al. Antemortem identification by fusion of MR and CT of the paranasal sinuses. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 13, 375–378 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-017-9873-6

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