The relationship between postmortem interval in advanced decomposed bodies and the settling ratio of the liver in postmortem CT scan

Introduction

Estimating the time of death is one of the key questions in forensics. Currently, the estimated time of death in advanced decomposed bodies is often done by assessing subjective postmortem characteristics. Multiple methods are available to assess the time of death by postmortem CT scan. However, the relationship between the settling ratio of the liver and postmortem interval has never been established.

Objective

To assess the relationship between the postmortem interval in advanced decomposed bodies and the settling ratio of the liver on postmortem computed tomography.

Research method

This research is a retrospective descriptive correlation study. The sample group is deceased that have undergone computed tomography before autopsy at the Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice and Department of Forensic Medicine, Chulalongkorn University. The 105 deceased are divided into 3 groups based on time of death: 1 – 3 days 3 – 5 days, and 5 – 7 days. The bodies are subjected to computed tomography and the settling ratio of the liver is measured.

Results

The settling ratio of the liver and the postmortem interval are statistically correlated across several reference lines. The reference point between the midclavicular line and the 12th thoracic spine (mid-clavicle – T12) has the highest correlation coefficient of −0.515, considered a strong correlation, and no other factors are found that correlate with the time of death from the ordinal logistic regression model analysis.

Conclusion

The settling ratio of the liver and the postmortem interval are statistically correlated between multiple reference lines. The settling ratio of the liver can be developed as a method to estimate the time of death in combination with other methods.