ReviewInternational journal of legal medicine2026
The value of magnetic resonance imaging in forensic investigation: a mapping review.
Review in International journal of legal medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Pelvic MRI-based machine learning models for age estimation and age threshold classification in living children and young adults.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is gaining momentum in forensic and post-mortem settings, its exact role in forensic investigations is yet to be determined. The current review aims to chart current and potential roles of MRI in forensic investigations, providing an overview of existing pertinent scientific literature.
methodsA mapping review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Medline, Web of Science, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched using database-specific syntaxes. Eligible articles included reviews, original research, case reports, letters, laboratory studies, and dissertations written in English. Articles not mentioning MRI, involving only functional MRI, and non-forensic clinical post-mortem examinations were excluded. Articles were categorised using thematic analysis. Data extraction included first-author country of origin, year of publication, level of evidence, and mention of MRI-protocol.
resultsThe initial search yielded 16,184 papers, 525 of which were included. Main focus of forensic MRI research is in medicolegal examination (n = 285), identification (n = 158), and process optimisation (n = 155); 73 articles were multi-categorical, and myriad subcategories were identified (foetus/child/adult, living/postmortem, anatomical regions, practice/guidelines/infrastructure, etc.). Articles were published over a 34-year period, originating from 34 countries. There were 235 level C-, 289 level B-, and 2 level A-evidence articles. 268 articles mentioned MRI protocols.
conclusionThe extensive amount of research across myriad subcategories highlights vast potential of MRI in forensic investigation. However, the overall level of evidence at this time is low, lacking standardisation. Further organization, standardization, and high-quality research are needed to clarify how best to apply MRI in forensic settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41354900What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.