Leicester University to develop virtual autopsies from CT scans
30 June 2010
The University of Leicester has won a grant to research and
develop the use of cardiac angiography using CT scans to conduct near
virtual autopsies.
The research team at the University of Leicester’s East Midlands
Forensic Pathology Unit has been granted the award by the National
Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Currently, diagnoses such as coronary heart disease cannot be
made by using CT scans. It is hoped that this new project will
develop a reliable and cost-effective system which can be used to
diagnose coronary heart disease from CT scans. The technology will
be used to visualise coronary arteries in cadavers and make a
diagnosis comparable to current autopsy practice.
The research is a collaborative project between researchers in
the East Midlands Forensic Pathology Unit at the University of
Leicester and researchers in the Imaging Department at the
University Hospitals of Leicester. The project officially began at
the beginning of June and will run for 18 months.
Professor Guy Rutty, who is heading up the project, commented:
“The outcome of this research has the potential to affect every
family in the future, and is a significant contribution to the
developing practice of using CT scans instead of autopsies. We are
investigating a realistic alternative to the autopsy and are
confident we can produce a reliable and cost-effective system which
can be used in the future as an alternative to the invasive
autopsy.”