In some way, the autopsy concludes the experimental phase, and, thus, results in the injury assessment. The specific needs of biomechanical research on cadavers led to the development of specific autopsy techniques in order to provide a more pertinent injury assessment.
According to our experience, the main elements that must be taken into account consist of:
- Cause of the death.
- Initial X-ray checking.
- Post-mortem pleural effusion, checking and evacuation.
- Post-mortem peritoneal effusion, checking and evacuation.
- Injuries induced by the instrumentation.
- Video and curves.
- Anatomical parts tested.
- Complementary tests on bones or organs.
All these elements contribute to the description of an autopsic approach adapted to the aim of the study.
The example that has been chosen concerns the thorax. On the one hand it shows how exhaustive the autopsy can be. On the other hand this exhaustiveness makes the autopsy injury assessment difficult to link to the clinical injury assessment. Facing this problem, the proposal consists of the production of two types of injury assessment by the autopsy: the regular exhaustive injury assessment and an estimated clinical injury assessment.