[Skull fractures--a comparison of clinical CT and autopsy findings]

The analysis included 10 forensic autopsy cases referring to deceased with skull fractures who had been hospitalized and had CT scans performed within a short time interval--several days--before death. Photographs of actual skull fractures were taken during every postmortem examination. CT data files in DICOM format were computed using eFilm, ImageJ software, thus performing a spatial reconstruction of the skull and visualizing the fractures. Data referring to the cases with CT scans (results and parameters) were presented in a table. In selected cases, a comparison of actual photographs and reconstructions was depicted in figures. The results of research indicated that data derived from clinical skull CT performed shortly before death in some cases seem to be insufficient for forensic purposes, but can be quite important as an additional set of information, especially when the autopsy report is imprecise.