Virtual autopsy in legal medicine: literature review and example of application on the mummified remains

The virtual autopsy and post-mortem imaging methods are relatively novel methods used in medicine to determine cause and manner of death. They can also be exceptionally useful in the process of identification. Although they have numerous advantages, they are still not implemented in practice to a sufficient extent because the methodology has not yet been validated, and studies that deal with legal and practical implications of those methods are relatively scarce. In this article we describe basic principles and advantages of the methodology, explore related legal and practical issues, and present a case of virtual autopsy in practice on the mummified remains of St. Ivan Olini from Church of St. Blaise in Vodnjan (Croatia). Virtualna obdukcija in postmortalna metoda slikanja sta relativno novi metodi v medicini za ugotovljanje vzroka in nacina smrti. Izjemno koristni sta lahko tudi v procesu identifikacije. Kljub stevilnim prednostim pa se v praksi se vedno ne izvajata v zadovoljivem obsegu, ker metodologija se ni potrjena, studije, ki se ukvarjajo s pravnimi in prakticnimi posledicami teh metod, pa so redke. V tem clanku so opisana temeljna nacela in prednosti metodologije, preucevana so pravna in prakticna vprasanja ter predstavljen primer virtualne obdukcije v praksi na mumificiranih ostankih sv. Ivana Olinija iz cerkve sv. Blaža v Vodnjanu (Hrvaska).