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Use of radiography and fluoroscopy in Disaster Victim Identification: Positional statement of the members of the Disaster Victim Identification working group of the International Society of Forensic Radiology and Imaging

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Body handling

The safe handling of bodies or other material is beyond the scope of this document. However the imaging equipment and staff must work within the appropriate body handling protocols for a particular event. When the body is delivered to the imaging area it must be placed on the radiography/scan table, ideally in an anatomic supine “head-up” position.

Radiography

It is recommended that forensically-trained radiographers or appropriately trained cadaver imaging technicians undertake the radiography examinations required for DVI purposes. In jurisdictions where this is not currently possible, it is recommended that examinations take place under the supervision of the forensic pathologist. For brevity, the rest of this positional paper will refer to the forensically trained staff performing imaging as “radiographers”.

Workflow

We propose that a workflow based on the principal of primary, secondary and tertiary survey should be undertaken as outlined below. A primary survey should be undertaken in all cases. Whether there is a requirement to undertake a secondary or tertiary survey will be dependent upon the incident, DVI question to be addressed and radiological methods employed.

Space requirements

At any incident, sufficient space is required for the equipment used for the primary survey examination (either MDCT, fluoroscopy or digital x‐ray), and possibly for dental X-ray examinations and in some circumstances digital x‐ray facilities.

The number of radiography stations will depend upon the numbers of DVI tables in use. However, assuming that experienced radiographers are used, the fluoroscopic survey on each body should take about 5–10 min, and therefore 1 fluoroscopy unit will be

Acknowledgements

The principles of this positional statement are supported by the International Association of Forensic Radiographers (IAFR).

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Cited by (0)

1

Principle author.

2

Members of the working group at time of production of this statement. All contributed equally to the agreement of this statement.

3

Group moderator and Chair International Society of Forensic Radiology and Imaging.

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