Comparison of Postmortem Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Clinical Autopsy in Detection of Major Congenital Abnormalities in Corpses of Fetus and Infants

Introduction: The use of diagnostic imaging in clinical and forensic autopsies, is a practice that is taking place in countries other than our own, especially in autopsies of particular difficulty such as fetuses and neonates. It is important to know the correlation between magnetic resonance imaging postmortem and clinical autopsy to recommend its routine use in our midst. Materials and methods: Autopsies performed on 20 fetuses and neonates and took total body MRI thereof, comparing imaging findings with autopsy findings. Information obtained was tabulated and Kappa value was rated to determine the concordance between the two diagnostic methods. Results: We calculated the correlation between MRI and clinical autopsy in detecting major malformations per system, calculating a kappa index for major malformations in the central nervous system of 0.273, for head and neck of 0.459, to the respiratory system of 0, for cardiovascular system from 0.459, for the gastrointestinal tract and the abdomen of 0, and urinary system of 0.643. Conclusions: Despite the poor correlation between MRI and postmortem clinical autopsy in detecting major malformations is considered in this case to the clinical autopsy as an imperfect gold standard and recommended the use of magnetic resonance imaging study mode can support a clinical autopsy in detecting major malformations in difficult cases in fetuses and neonates.