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Updated: Apr 17, 2026
Image Rendering Techniques in Postmortem Computed Tomography: Evaluation of Biological Health and Profile in Stranded Cetaceans
Published on: September 27, 2020
Post-mortem evaluation of drowning with whole body CT
Sarah Vander Plaetsen1, Els De Letter1, Michel Piette1
1Forensic Institute - Ghent University Department of Forensic Medicine Jozef Kluyskensstraat 29, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Purpose:
The aim of this study is to investigate the value of whole body computed tomography (WB-CT) in bodies recovered from water by analysis of the imaging findings after drowning.
Methods:
The bodies of 41 drowning victims and 9 persons who died from mechanical asphyxia by hanging underwent post-mortem whole body computed tomography.
Results And Conclusions:
Excessive fluid in the paranasal sinuses (98%), nasal pharynx (98%), oropharynx (95%), trachea (83%), ground glass opacities in the lung (89%), pleural fluid (71%), pericardial fluid (59%), esophageal fluid (81%), stomach fluid and distension (71%), duodenal (34%) and jejunal distension (31%) were the most frequent drowning related imaging findings which significantly differed from the group of mechanical asphyxia by hanging. In cases of fresh water drowning hemodilution was present in 79%. New and up to now unpublished findings were lower density in the spleen, indicative for hemodilution and detection of a pronounced amount of pericardial fluid, only seen in drowning victims.
