Cardiac dimensions measured from post-mortem photographs: are they accurate?

Peer reviewing post-mortem reports, photographs and histology is a mandatory process in the everyday practice of forensic pathology. In the context of organ measurement/dimensions, comparing the dimensions measured from a post-mortem photograph and what was recorded in the post-mortem report is sometimes necessary. However, there are limited studies validating the accuracy of dimensions measured from a photograph in forensic pathology. This study examined the cardiac dimensions measured from a standard post-mortem photograph of a heart section. It showed that although there was acceptable intra- and inter-rater reliability, the overall accuracy was low compared with gross measurement at post-mortem examination. The results from this study suggest that measurements taken from a post-mortem photograph have limited utility in assessing cardiac dimensions. The reasons for this discrepancy and recommendations on how to improve the accuracy are provided.

Automated summary

Peer reviewing post-mortem reports, photographs, and histology is essential in forensic pathology, and comparing dimensions measured from photographs with recorded measurements is sometimes necessary. However, limited studies validate the accuracy of measurements from photographs in forensic pathology. This study found that cardiac dimensions measured from a standard post-mortem photograph had low overall accuracy compared to gross measurements. These results suggest that measurements from post-mortem photographs have limited utility in assessing cardiac dimensions.