法医学における検査の役割

—DNA型判定の基礎から死後画像診断まで—

抄録

This review describes the roles of examinations, particularly DNA typing and postmortem imaging, in legal medicine. DNA typing of the short tandem repeat(STR)locus is useful for personal identification because it can analyse a small amount of and/or degraded forensic sample by polymerase chain reaction(PCR). The conventional procedure followed for DNA typing is multiplex STR analysis with capillary electrophoresis. Mitochondrial DNA analysis is an effective method for analysing small amounts of and/or degraded forensic samples in which even STR loci cannot be detected. Postmortem imaging by computed tomography(CT)is useful for forensic casework because it easily reveals bone fractures, pneumothorax and specific haemorrhagic lesions such as cerebral haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage and subdural haematoma. Thus, DNA typing and postmortem imaging will increasingly play vital roles in legal medicine.