Digital Death Investigation: Uncovering Limitations in Virtual Autopsy and Pathways to Innovation

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-610-4_50How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Virtual autopsy; digital pathology; machine learning; limitations; medico-legal; post-mortem angiography

Abstract

Virtual autopsy, employing post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT), post- mortem magnetic resonance imaging (PMMRI), and AI-assisted digital pathology, represents a major advancement in forensic medicine by enabling non-invasive, rapid, and reproducible post-mortem evaluations. Despite its increasing application, several limitations restrict its ability to fully replace traditional autopsy. Virtual autopsy exhibits reduced sensitivity for subtle soft-tissue lesions, early inflammatory processes, diffuse organ pathology, and microscopic changes that require histological confirmation. PMCT is limited by beam-hardening and metal artefacts, challenges in detecting vascular injuries without PMCTA, and difficulty in differentiating antemortem from post-mortem artefacts. PMMRI, while superior for soft-tissue visualization, remains time-consuming, expensive, and technically demanding, with reduced efficacy in decomposed bodies. Additionally, injuries such as minor lacerations, early myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, and infections may remain occult without invasive sampling. Operational barriers include high infrastructural cost, need for continual calibration, dependence on trained radiologists and forensic pathologists, and limited availability in low-resource regions. Machine- learning and digital pathology tools offer enhanced diagnostic capabilities but are constrained by small forensic datasets, lack of standardized imaging protocols, potential algorithmic bias, and medico-legal uncertainties regarding evidentiary admissibility. Moreover, virtual findings alone are insufficient in homicide cases, where courts continue to demand corroboration through classical dissection, toxicology, and histopathology. Thus, while virtual autopsy serves as a powerful adjunct and effective screening tool—especially in trauma cases, mass disasters, infectious-risk situations, and culturally sensitive contexts—it currently cannot substitute the diagnostic completeness of invasive autopsy. Ongoing advancements in PMCTA, AI-driven analytics, and integrated digital pathology are essential to overcoming these limitations and strengthening its medico-legal reliability.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - A. Arul Darshini
AU  - S. Intamil Karthika
AU  - D. Iyda Jenifer
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/05
TI  - Digital Death Investigation: Uncovering Limitations in Virtual Autopsy and Pathways to Innovation
BT  - Proceedings of the First International Conference on Advances in Forensics and Cyber Technologies (ICFACT 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 616
EP  - 631
SN  - 2352-538X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-610-4_50
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-610-4_50
ID  - Darshini2026
ER  -