Forensic radiology in the Netherlands Results of a symbiotic collaboration in the pathological-radiological field

The invention of the CT-scan in 1972 and its technical evolution in the following years encouraged the development of forensic radiology where the radiologist, together with the forensic pathologist, strives to find a cause of death in forensic cases. Around 2000, a collaboration emerged between the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI, The Hague) and the Groene Hart Ziekenhuis (GHH, Gouda). Bodies that were ‘confiscated’ by the justice department were taken to the GHH for Post-mortem CT prior to autopsy. In an editorial is described how this development transpired and an overview of the first 1700 cases is presented. In the next chapter we discuss the radiological investigations of victims of small airplane crashes. Then extensive attention is paid to the hyoid-larynx complex. The magnitude of our case series is unique throughout the world and thus formed the basis for four articles about the embryological development, anatomic variations that mimic fractures in the hyoid-larynx complex, the localisation of the various fractures and how to image them. Next, we discuss a series of 50 burn victims. Was the victim still alive and breathing at the time of the fire? We recognized specific recurrent patterns on CT images in relation to the heat. In the last chapter we describe two cases of fatal diving accidents, by which an unusual amount of gas was observed in the (large) blood vessels. Finally, we studied the presence of blebs within the lungs of victims. The number of people with blebs-containing lungs was much higher than previously described.