Feasibility Study of MRI Muscles Molecular Imaging in Evaluation of Early Post-Mortem Interval

Estimating early postmortem interval (EPI) is a difficult task in daily forensic activity due to limitations of accurate and reliable methods. The aim of the present work is to describe a novel approach in the estimation of EPI based on quantitative magnetic resonance molecular imaging (qMRMI) using...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2020-01, Vol.10 (1), p.392-392, Article 392
Main Authors: Sapienza, Daniela, Asmundo, Alessio, Silipigni, Salvatore, Barbaro, Ugo, Cinquegrani, Antonella, Granata, Francesca, Barresi, Valeria, Gualniera, Patrizia, Bottari, Antonio, Gaeta, Michele
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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59
59/57
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Animals
Anisotropy
Diffusion coefficient
Feasibility Studies
Forensic science
Histology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Meat
Meat - analysis
Molecular Imaging - methods
multidisciplinary
Muscle, Skeletal - anatomy & histology
Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
Muscles
Phantoms, Imaging
Postmortem Changes
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Swine
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Summary:Estimating early postmortem interval (EPI) is a difficult task in daily forensic activity due to limitations of accurate and reliable methods. The aim of the present work is to describe a novel approach in the estimation of EPI based on quantitative magnetic resonance molecular imaging (qMRMI) using a pig phantom since post-mortem degradation of pig meat is similar to that of human muscles. On a pig phantom maintained at 20° degree, using a 1.5 T MRI scanner we performed 10 scans (every 4 hours) monitoring apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA) magnetization transfer ration (MTR), tractography and susceptibility weighted changes in muscles until 36 hours after death. Cooling of the phantom during the experiment was recorded. Histology was also obtained. Pearson’s Test was carried out for time correlation between post-mortem interval and MRI data. We found a significative inverse correlation between ADC, FA, MT values and PMI. Our preliminary data shows that post-mortem qMRMI is a potential powerful tool in accurately determining EPI and is worth of further investigation.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-57357-z