Post-COVID-19 Era Forensics—the Advantages and Challenges of Digital Transformation

A special issue of Forensic Sciences (ISSN 2673-6756).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 October 2024 | Viewed by 2368

Special Issue Editor

Department of Anatomy, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Medicine, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Interests: injury; bone biology; BMPs; digital transformation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

After reaching a dead-end with COVID-19, forensic medicine seems to be back to square one. At least figures related to clinical vs. autopsy findings discrepancy (CAD) indicate so. Data over the last fifty years say exactly that; forensic medicine has not moved too far at all. This trend may be for a number of reasons, and this Special Issue aims to discuss each of them. Advances in diagnostic and therapeutic interventions do not mitigate CAD sufficiently. In fact, the data indicate that this disagreement has been growing recently, and this SI is looking for and offering answers to the question: why? This should consider the specificity of the population, the amount of data that can be incorporated into the autopsy reports, the length of stay in hospital prior to death, declining autopsy rates, etc. Moreover, standard autopsy does not always detect the cause of an individual’s death, so this “era of the new beginning” introduces advanced interventions even for the field of forensic medicine (as are verbal and molecular autopsy, or post-mortem CT).

Topics

  • Post-COVID-19 era postmortems
  • Minimally invasive postmortem
  • Digital transition
  • Forensics in the Society 5.0
  • Modern clinical advances and the legal medicine
  • Medical student and legal medicine

Dr. Ivan Šoša
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • clinical-autopsy discrepancies
  • advances in diagnostic and therapeutic interventions
  • digital transition
  • verbal autopsy
  • PMCT
  • education

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

13 pages, 706 KiB  
Review
Improving Traditional Post Mortem Healthcare—The Cross-Sectional Use of Blood-Based Biomarkers
by Ivan Šoša
Forensic Sci. 2023, 3(3), 368-380; https://doi.org/10.3390/forensicsci3030028 - 10 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1479
Abstract
Many tools of clinical medicine, such as clinical chemistry and diagnostic imaging, are prioritized for clinical diagnosis over post mortem diagnosis. Indeed, it is reasonable that the assessment of a patient’s functional status should take priority over the post mortem, cross-sectional use of [...] Read more.
Many tools of clinical medicine, such as clinical chemistry and diagnostic imaging, are prioritized for clinical diagnosis over post mortem diagnosis. Indeed, it is reasonable that the assessment of a patient’s functional status should take priority over the post mortem, cross-sectional use of diagnostic tests and laboratory equipment. In addition, these tools are sometimes expensive, and their use does not always have a reasonable cost–benefit ratio. However, some post mortem observations, such as inflammation, pulmonary edema, or infiltration and cerebral swelling, cannot be explained without using immunohistochemical markers for post mortem diagnosis. Introducing blood-based biomarkers into post mortem care could significantly reduce the rates of inconclusive post mortems and discrepancies in autopsy findings and clinical diagnoses. This is particularly relevant in relation to vascular pathology, considering the significant burden that vascular diseases represent for overall mortality. Expanding traditional autopsies with blood-based (circulating) biomarkers to avoid invasive post mortem examination would have cultural, religious, and potentially economic advantages. All of the target molecules were discussed in the context of the processes they up-regulate or down-regulate, which turned out to be the final cause of death. Ultimately, it is evident that further studies are needed to provide concrete validation for using a combination of markers for each case to reach a post mortem diagnosis with or without clinical records. Full article
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