On opening day of ECR 2014, a first-of-its-kind study examining the reliability of MRI to image experimentally produced stab wounds in amputated human limbs was presented.

This Italian study is the first step toward more MR studies on stab wound patients in the routine clinical setting. There is only a small amount of data available relating to CT features of human stab wounds, and before this study, there were almost no data about MRI features.

The news is exciting for the increasing number of radiologists who image non-life-threatening wounds from which images might become forensic evidence in criminal cases or used in post-mortem reports.
The goal of the study was to find out if MRI could offer even more information than CT. The researchers used a 64-slice CT and 1.5T MRI to determine the incision length of 10 wounds. The CT and MRI examinations were done before stabbing and with the knife inside the wound. Also, both examinations were conducted before and after each wound was filled with contrast medium.

Both of the modalities underestimated the length of the wound-- CT by an average of 11.9 percent and MRI by an average of 9.1 percent. Even though this isn't a significant difference, it does show that MRI may lead to more positive results in the future, according to Dr. Chiara Giraudo, a resident radiologist at Padua.

"So far both CT and MRI can provide consistent and reproducible data on the injury depth," she told ECR delegates.

There will be further studies on live subjects scheduled for next year, which will eliminate some of the limitations of using amputated limbs.

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