Keywords:
Forensic / Necropsy studies, Liver, Abdomen, MR, MR-Diffusion/Perfusion, Medico-legal issues, Forensics
Authors:
S. Keller1, T. M. Schmidt1, A. C. Kim2, R. Fischer1, A. Heinemann1, G. Adam1, J. Yamamura1; 1Hamburg/DE, 2San Francisco, CA/US
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-1165
Results
Post-mortem ADC values
The ex vivo temperature corrected median liver ADC was 74.2 ± 13.4 · 10-5 mm2/s (range 39.6 to 96.3 · 10-5 mm2/s) and differed significantly from in vivo median ADC values of 113.7 ± 8.4 · 10-5 mm2/s (range 96.9 to 136.5 · 10-5 mm2/s),
p< 0.0001.
Figure 4 illustrates the postmortem time course of ADC values.
Both the RL and LL showed a characteristic change in ADC values over time.
ADC measurement at 2 hours p.m.
was achievable in one patient showing a mean ADC (± SEM) of 39.6 ± 0.0 · 10-5 mm2/s.
Averaged for both liver lobes,
there was an increase in the mean ADC (± SEM) from 55.5 ± 4.0 · 10-5 mm2/s (3 h p.m.) (n=3) to 77.3 ± 18.7 · 10-5 mm2/s (4 h p.m.) (n=5),
followed by a plateau between 77.3 ± 18.7 · 10-5 mm2/s to 78.4 ± 12.9 · 10-5 mm2/s (n=3-13),
4 to 14 hours p.m.
At 15 hours p.m.,
the ADC reached 95.0 ± 32.7 · 10-5 mm2/s (n=3) with a high variability both from case to case and within time measured.
Measurement counts and data are depicted in Table 1.
The rectally measured core body temperature showed a characteristic decrease from 36.0 (2 hours p.m.,
n=1) to 25.7°C (16 hours p.m.,
n=1) (Figure 5).
The median body core temperature slightly decreased within 6 (n=12) to 13 (n=5) hours p.m.
(29.9 ± 6.6 °C to 28.5 ± 19.6°C).
In the examined time interval,
the individual average ADC (averaged over both the RL and LL) inversely correlated to the core body temperature (r= -0.76; Confidence Interval -0.83 to -0.66,
p< 0.0001) (Figure 6).