Characterization of fatal blunt injuries using postmortem computed tomography.

Background: Rapid triage of blunt agonal trauma patients is necessary to maximize survival, but autopsy is uncommon, slow, and rarely informs resuscitation guidelines. Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) can serve as an adjunct to autopsy in guiding blunt agonal trauma resuscitation.

Methods: Retrospective cohort review of trauma decedents who died at or within 1 hour of arrival following blunt trauma and underwent noncontrasted PMCT.