AIIMS facility for virtual autopsy now a nodal centre for other such institutes

NEW DELHI: The Centre for Advanced Research and Excellence in Virtual Autopsy, a first-of-its-kind and state-of-the-art centre in India and Southeast Asia at AIIMS Delhi, has become a nodal centre for facilitating further development of virtual autopsy in other institutes across the country such as the NEIGRIMS Shillong, AIIMS Rishikesh, AIIMS Guwahati etc. The centre will establish India as a frontrunner in technological advancements in the field of Forensic Medicine in the world.

On the completion of 5 years at the Centre for Advanced Research and Excellence in Virtual Autopsy at AIIMS, Professor and Head of Forensic Medicine Department, Sudhir Gupta said more centres will be started soon. "We summed up all the centres (in the world) and then created the infrastructure and facilities which are even better than these (pre-existing) centres. ICMR and the Government of India are interested in making more centres in India for Virtual Autopsy. A second centre was opened in Shillong in NEIGRIHMS," Gupta said.

On comparison between the findings of virtual autopsy and traditional autopsy, he said, "We have done approx 600 virtual autopsy for the finding of traditional and virtual autopsy. So, these are the comparative studies and few research projects also to study comparison." To date, more than 100 cases have been done through virtual means and have proved to be a great humanitarian relief to relatives of the deceased ensuring Dignified Management of the Dead.

On an average, autopsies in 6-7 cases are done daily and in the last year, almost 100 virtual autopsies have been done. Virtual autopsy has increased the evidentiary value and credibility of post-mortem reports and has also emerged as a great tool in teaching and training. New techniques like post-mortem CT Angiography are being used to establish the cause of sudden death in young adults.

The rich radiological data obtained by PMCT scanning in Virtual Autopsy is being used for various medical research in clinical medicine and anthropology anatomical variations of skeletal/organs in the human body and age-related ossification studies in the Indian population.