Virtopsy is done after noted comedian Raju died of cardiac arrest yesterday, who was admitted to AIIMS after a heart stroke on August 10th, 2022.

Comedian Raju Srivastava’s post-mortem was conducted using a novel technique called Virtual Autopsy also called as Virtopsy or Necropsy

High Lights

• An Emerging science where doctors attempt to assess the cause of the death using digital CT Scan or MRI instead of cutting the body open
• Countries like Switzerland, USA and Australia are already using imaging techniques to conduct autopsy. Recently, The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a project for AIIMS to take up a similar exercise to assess its possibility

What Is Virtual Autopsy?

• Virtual autopsy, also known as virtopsy, is a new post-mortem technique that does not need dissection.
• The necropsy is carried out using high-tech digital X-rays and CT-scans.
• Comparatively to normal necropsy method, this takes less time.
• This new method can identify minute fractures in bones, such as hairline or chip fractures, which are evidence of antemortem (before death) trauma (injuries received by body before death).
• Virtopsy allows for the precise depth of a foreign body, which is not always feasible with standard autopsy.
• The results of virtopsy can be documented with X-ray films, which can be used as evidence in court.
• The downside of virtopsy is lack of use of an anatomical pathologist’s physiological senses such as smell, texture, and colour due to the lack of direct contact with the cadaver.
• It’s challenging to implement in developing countries, in places where there is no advanced technology available.
• It does, however, remove the ethical disadvantages of traditional autopsies, as many cultures and traditions do not condone body dissection for autopsy.
• For the past two years, AIIMS Delhi has been the sole institute in Southeast Asia performing virtual autopsies.

How It Is Done?

• The body is placed in a sealed bag and then put through a CT Scan
• It finishes in seconds and acquires up to 25,000 images of body’s inside
• Internal bleeding, bullet paths and hidden fractures that are hard to find in traditional autopsy can be detected

Key Benefits Of Virtual Autopsy

• Can complement standard autopsy and increase the quality of assessment
• Allows for additional analysis on the same body by other forensic pathologists even after years if some claims arise in the future
• Body remains intact
• Takes less time

Who Was Raju Srivastava?

Raju Srivastav was an Indian comedian, actor and politician from Uttar Pradesh.

He passed away after suffering a massive cardiac arrest while on the treadmill.

Cardiac arrests during exercise are caused when the blockages in the blood vessels are ignored.

Workouts can sometimes cause electrical abnormalities in the heart, resulting in cardiac arrest. They can potentially trigger fatty plaque rupture, culminating in a heart attack.