Minimally invasive, imaging guided virtual autopsy compared to conventional autopsy in foetal, newborn and infant cases: study protocol for the paediatric virtual autopsy trial
نویسندگان
چکیده
BACKGROUND In light of declining autopsy rates around the world, post-mortem MR imaging is a promising alternative to conventional autopsy in the investigation of infant death. A major drawback of this non-invasive autopsy approach is the fact that histopathological and microbiological examination of the tissue is not possible. The objective of this prospective study is to compare the performance of minimally invasive, virtual autopsy, including CT-guided biopsy, with conventional autopsy procedures in a paediatric population. METHODS/DESIGN Foetuses, newborns and infants that are referred for autopsy at three different institutions associated with the University of Zurich will be eligible for recruitment. All bodies will be examined with a commercial CT and a 3 Tesla MRI scanner, masked to the results of conventional autopsy. After cross-sectional imaging, CT-guided tissue sampling will be performed by a multifunctional robotic system (Virtobot) allowing for automated post-mortem biopsies. Virtual autopsy results will be classified with regards to the likely final diagnosis and major pathological findings and compared to the results of conventional autopsy, which remains the diagnostic gold standard. DISCUSSION There is an urgent need for the development of alternative post-mortem examination methods, not only as a counselling tool for families and as a quality control measure for clinical diagnosis and treatment but also as an instrument to advance medical knowledge and clinical practice. This interdisciplinary study will determine whether virtual autopsy will narrow the gap in information between non-invasive and traditional autopsy procedures. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01888380.
منابع مشابه
ویرتوپسی، مکملی برای اتوپسی
Background & Aims: A utopsies are recognized as valuable medical procedures. A number of digital radiology techniques, including multislice CT, MRI, and photogrammetry with 3D surface scanning have the potential to change traditional autopsy and improve the reliability of results. Virtual Autopsy is a non-invasive procedure with no damage to the tissues. Noninvasive virtual autopsying could...
متن کاملMinimally invasive, imaging guided virtual autopsy compared to conventional autopsy in the foetus, infant and child: study protocol for the paediatric virtual autopsy trial
Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland University Children’s Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland Division of Obstetrics, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland Division of Biostatistics, University of Zurich Institute for Pathology, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland Department of Pathology, University ...
متن کاملPost mortem magnetic resonance imaging in the fetus, infant and child: A comparative study with conventional autopsy (MaRIAS Protocol)
BACKGROUND Minimally invasive autopsy by post mortem magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has been suggested as an alternative for conventional autopsy in view of the declining consented autopsy rates. However, large prospective studies rigorously evaluating the accuracy of such an approach are lacking. We intend to compare the accuracy of a minimally invasive autopsy approach using post mortem MR i...
متن کاملPost-mortem MRI versus conventional autopsy in fetuses and children: a prospective validation study
BACKGROUND Post-mortem MRI is a potential diagnostic alternative to conventional autopsy, but few large prospective studies have compared its accuracy with that of conventional autopsy. We assessed the accuracy of whole-body, post-mortem MRI for detection of major pathological lesions associated with death in a prospective cohort of fetuses and children. METHODS In this prospective validation...
متن کاملBrain volume estimation from post-mortem newborn and fetal MRI
OBJECTIVE Minimally invasive autopsy using post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a valid alternative to conventional autopsy in fetuses and infants. Estimation of brain weight is an integral part of autopsy, but manual segmentation of organ volumes on MRI is labor intensive and prone to errors, therefore unsuitable for routine clinical practice. In this paper we aim to show that volum...
متن کامل