VIRTOPSY

Dec. 8, 2019

Union Health Minister told Rajya Sabha that it is likely to be possible soon to carry out autopsies without dissecting the body. If this happens then India will be the first country in South and Southeast Asia to carry out these “virtual autopsies.”

About:

  • What is it? Virtopsy is a word combining ‘virtual’ and ‘autopsy’ for the purpose of autopsy and to find the cause of the death.

  • How is it done? In a Virtopsy (Virtual Autopsy), doctors use radiation to examine the innards to reach a conclusion about the cause of death. A CT or an MRI machine could be used, in the same way that they are used to scan a living human’s body.

  • Benefits:
    • Virtopsy can be employed as an alternative to standard autopsies for broad and systemic examination of the whole body as it is less time consuming, aids better diagnosis, and renders respect to religious sentiments.

    • The traditional postmortem often makes members of the dead person’s family uncomfortable. That is the primary reason for the increasing use of virtual autopsies internationally.



  • Indian scenario: AIIMS, New Delhi and ICMR are working together on a technique for post-mortem without incising/dissecting the body. This technique is likely to become functional in the next six months.