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A simple method for the automatic classification of body parts and detection of implanted metal using postmortem computed tomography scout view

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A Correction to this article was published on 09 September 2020

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Abstract

Information on medical devices embedded in the body is important in the identification of an unidentified body. Computed tomography (CT) is a powerful imaging modality; however, metallic artifacts deteriorate the image quality because of the reconstruction method. On the contrary, CT scout view is less affected by metallic artifacts compared to CT. It is a simple method to classify the body into three rough parts for postmortem CT (PMCT) scout view, and an algorithm used to detect the location of the implanted metal has been developed for personal identification in forensic pathology. Of the test images, 97% were correctly classified into the three body parts. The true-positive rate for detection of the implanted metal in the scout view was 96.5%. Therefore, our simple methods are applicable in PMCT scout views and would be particularly useful for forensic pathology.

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Change history

  • 09 September 2020

    In the original publication of the article, the authors affiliations were incorrectly published. The corrected affiliations are given in this correction.

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Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Professor Atsushi Teramoto, Ph.D. (Fujita Health University), Mr. Yoichiro Shimizu, Ph.D., Mr. Yusuke Kawazoe (Yamaguchi University Hospital), Mr. Makoto Ozaki, Mr. Yuya Yamashita, and Mr. Jun Kobayashi (Kyushu University) for their useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan

    Yuya Wada, Miki Okumura & Noriaki Ikeda

  2. Department of Forensic Pathology and Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan

    Junji Morishita & Yongsu Yoon

Authors
  1. Yuya Wada
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  2. Junji Morishita
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  3. Yongsu Yoon
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  4. Miki Okumura
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  5. Noriaki Ikeda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yongsu Yoon.

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All procedures in studies involving human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Requirements for informed consent were waived for all images used in this study by the Institutional Review Board.

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Wada, Y., Morishita, J., Yoon, Y. et al. A simple method for the automatic classification of body parts and detection of implanted metal using postmortem computed tomography scout view. Radiol Phys Technol 13, 378–384 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-020-00581-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-020-00581-4

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