Qeios PEER-APPROVED v1: 11 December 2024 Research Article Comparison of Clinical and Radiological Diagnosis with Autopsy Findings in Fatal Trac Accident Cases Peer-approved: 11 December 2024 © The Author(s) 2024. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Qeios, Vol. 6 (2024) ISSN: 2632-3834 Dr Ambika Prasad Patra 1 , Kagne Rajeswari R. 2 , Vinod Chaudhari 3 , Balamurugan N. 2 , Deepu Mathew 3 1. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, India; 2. Department of Emergency Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, India; 3. Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, India This study investigated the alignment between clinical and radiological assessments and autopsy ndings in fatal road trac accidents (RTAs), focusing on the identication of missed injuries and diagnostic discrepancies. Conducted at a tertiary care centre in India, this study examined 146 cases of RTA fatalities over a two-year period. Clinicoradiological diagnoses were compared with autopsy ndings across various injury types, including head, thoracic, abdominal, and limb injuries. Autopsy ndings revealed a higher incidence of certain injuries, such as cervical spine injuries, cerebral contusions, and small haemorrhages, which were often missed during the initial clinical and radiological evaluations. Injury agreement was statistically evaluated using kappa statistics, revealing a moderate to slight correlation in most cases, with specic areas of notable discordance. In 21.9% of the cases, the cause of death determined clinically diered from autopsy ndings, underscoring the critical role of autopsy in rening trauma assessment protocols and improving diagnostic accuracy. These ndings highlight the value of autopsy feedback for emergency trauma care and suggest a need for advanced diagnostic techniques to reduce missed injuries in polytrauma cases. Corresponding author: Ambika Prasad Patra, drambikajipmer@outlook.com Introduction The incidence of trac accidents is increasing, as are the associated mortality and morbidity rates. According to the 2023 World Health Organization (WHO) data, road trac accidents (RTA) result in the loss of approximately 1.19 million lives annually, and 20 to 50 million individuals sustain non-fatal injuries, with a signicant proportion experiencing permanent disabilities [1] [2] . Over 90% of road trac fatalities occur in low- and middle-income countries, despite these nations possessing only 60% of the world's vehicles. Consequently, the majority of countries incur a cost of approximately 3 to 5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [1] . Road trac accidents frequently involve multiple injuries that aect various body systems. These injuries can lead to signicant disabilities and pose life-threatening risks. Globally, motor vehicle accidents are the primary cause of polytraumas [1] . qeios.com doi.org/10.32388/TJ22UQ.2 1