A current perspective on forensic radiology

Virtual Trauma Analysis of the Nineteenth-Century Severed Head of the Greek Outlaw Stavrou

Human remains have been displayed in museums in Europe since many centuries for historical, cultural, and educational reasons. Of particular interest are skeletal remains and body parts that have suffered violent deaths and such remains often feature in Criminology Museums. Despite the well-acknowledged value of human remains in medical education, bioarchaeology, and research, the display of human remains still raises ethical considerations ranging in severity depending on the cultural substrate and legal framework of each country. Recent developments in medical imaging and visualisation are offering an alternative way. Taking into account the emerging issues regarding exhibition and handling of human remains, this research project aims to use virtual methods to reconstruct the circumstances of the death of a nineteenth-century outlaw comprising one of the human exhibits at the Criminology Museum of Athens in Greece.For the purpose of the project, the severed head of the outlaw Stavrou was CT scanned, and the data were used to reconstruct and to evaluate the ballistic trauma sustained at the time of his death. From the scans, it was possible to determine the minimum number of shots, entrance and exit wounds, approximate calibre of the bullets, approximate distance from which they were fired, and general velocity of the round.Shots are fired from the lateral left and backside of the head and bullets exited from the right frontal and temporal area causing extensive damage to the right craniofacial region. The direction of the shots coming from the back and left suggests that Stavrou was more likely ambushed by gendarmerie squads and not shot in a fair fight which would have caused entry wounds in the anterior surface of the body. This is in agreement with historical evidence that placed him in gunfire with his fellow gang member Karapanos against a government squad. On the other hand, the possibility of being captured alive and executed cannot be rejected based only on wound ballistics.This work would be excellent supplementary material to the actual human exhibit for the accurate presentation of Stavrou's history at the Criminology Museum. In addition, it would allow the virtual exhibition of the material for historical and teaching purposes to museums and universities anywhere in Greece and along the globe, thus overcoming the obstacles of moving the actual remains.

Comparative radiologic identification with standardized single CT images of the paranasal sinuses-Evaluation of inter-rater reliability

The aim of this study was to assess the reproducibility of a standardized image for personal identification (SIPI), used in the comparative analysis of paranasal sinuses, and test the effect of inaccurate reformation of the SIPI on suitability for comparative identification. Five raters with different professional backgrounds independently reformatted SIPIs from ten post-mortem head CTs. Inter-rater, intra-rater agreement as well angular deviations between reformatted SIPI images and reference SIPI images were calculated. Second, raters assessed the suitability of 70 accurately and inaccurately reformatted SIPIs for identification with a 4-point Likert scale. Inter-rater agreement as well as levels of significance regarding image suitability were calculated. Inter-rater agreement regarding reproducibility of SIPI reformation was excellent (inter-rater correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.9995, intra-rater ICC 0.9983). Deviation between the angular dimensions of the reformatted SIPIs and the reference SIPIs was ≤1° in 94% of all 300 measurements. Inter-rater agreement regarding the effect of inaccurate SIPI reformation on suitability for comparative identification was fair (ICC 0.6809). There was no statistically significant difference between raters' evaluation of image suitability (p=0.9755). This study shows that the standardized image for personal identification can be accurately reformatted by different raters with varying professional backgrounds. In addition, raters agree that inaccurately reformatted SIPIs are still suitable for comparative identification in the majority of cases.