Radiologic anatomy, radiologic anthropometry and forensic radiology the scope, relationship and challenges: a review

Abstract

Radiology serves as a reference point in every discipline of medicine and surgery as well as presently in the subspecialty of forensic radiology. Radiologic imaging is increasingly being used as non-invasive tool in the assessment, analysis and documentation of both living and dead persons. Knowledge of normal radiologic anatomy therefore aids in the identification of the abnormal findings, and helps to solve problems in forensic investigations. This review aims to analyze the role of forensic radiologists. Information for this review article was sourced from journal articles, internet explorer, Google, Google Scholar, yahoo, msn, Firefox, Medline, PubMed, AJOL, and HighWire search engines. The search terms were included the following search words: Autopsy, Radiologic Imaging, Radiologic Anatomy, Radiologic Anthropometry, Forensic Radiology, Mass Disasters and Nigeria were search words. There were 86 publications reviewed made up of 8 Nigerian and 78 International articles. The areas covered ranged from documentation and expert evidence, postmortem examination and virtual autopsy, smuggling, mass disaster management, education and research and art forgery. This role of the forensic radiologist is important in planning future health policies concerning forensic medicine in Nigeria. It will also open new avenues and provide the opportunity of identifying a non-invasive alternative to the traditional dissecting autopsy.

Keywords: radiologic anthropometry, forensic radiology, autopsy, scope, radiologic modalities, Nigeria