Investigations on an isolated skull with gunshot wounds using flat-panel CT

The use of computed tomography (CT) scanners is rapidly becoming established in forensic medicine. Current multislice CT (MSCT) scanners attain a resolution of 0.42 mm. An isolated skull with gunshot injuries was examined with a high-resolution eXplore Locus Ultra flat-panel CT (eLU-CT) and MSCT. Structures and minute fissures in the bone interior, which were neither visible macroscopically nor with the MSCT data, could be imaged with the eLU-CT data. In addition, a tiny interior impact defect from a retained missile could be detected by eLU-CT, which clearly aided the reconstruction of the gunshots in this case.