ORIGINAL ARTICLE Postmortem MR diffusion-weighted imaging of the liver: time-behavior of the hepatic apparent diffusion coefficient in the early death interval Sarah Keller 1 & Tony M. Schmidt 1 & Anne Catherine Kim 2 & Roland Fischer 3 & Axel Heinemann 4 & Gerhard Adam 1 & Jin Yamamura 1 Received: 29 March 2017 /Accepted: 4 September 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 Abstract Objective The objective of this study is to assess postmortem changes of the hepatic apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) at multiple time points in the time interval of 16 hours postmor- tem in comparison to in vivo controls and to literature data. Material and methods Hepatic diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was repeatedly performed at 1.5 Tesla (b values 50, 400, and 800 s/mm 2 ) in 2-hourly steps within 16 hours post- mortem in 19 cases (male to female 13:6, mean age 68.5 ± 12.2 years) and 5 in vivo controls. The core body temperature was measured rectally prior to every scan. Mean ADC values were calculated from regions of interest (ROIs) and compared to in vivo healthy controls and to literature data of normal liver parenchyma. Spearman rank correlation and Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm were used to assess a rela- tionship between postmortem core body temperature and ADC values. Results Mean hepatic ADC values were significantly lower in postmortem cases than in in vivo controls (52.0 ± 15.0 · 10 -5 mm 2 /s vs. 111.0 ± 15.7 · 10 -5 mm 2 /s, p < 0.0001). The ex vivo liver ADC correlated inversely to calculated liver temperature ( -3.5 ± 0.8) · 10 -5 mm 2 /s/°C, r = -0.44, p < 0.0001. At low calculated liver temperature (< 30 °C), the ADC described an average increase of (22 ± 10) · 10 -5 mm 2 /s/°C. Conclusion Hepatic ADC values show a characteristic change in the immediate 16 hours postmortem, which is in- fluenced by the postmortem liver temperature change. With the knowledge of characteristic postmortem liver changes, diffusion-weighted imaging could be added to conventional postmortem MRI for virtual autopsy. Keywords Diffusion-weightedimaging . Magneticresonance imaging . Postmortem . PMMR . Liver . ADC Abbreviations ADC Apparent diffusion coefficient CT Computed tomography DWI Diffusion-weighted imaging FLAIR Fluid attenuated inversion recovery HASTE Half- Fourier-acquisition single- shot turbo spin- echo MRI Magnetic resonance imaging p.m. Postmortem PMMR Postmortem magnetic resonance imaging ROI Region of interest SEM Standard error of the mean SD Standard deviation Introduction Diagnostic radiology has played an increasingly important role in forensic medicine in the past few decades [1, 2]. * Sarah Keller s.keller@uke.de 1 Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany 2 The Permanente Medical Group, Department Stroke and Neurovascular Imaging, San Francisco, CA, USA 3 Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany 4 Department of Legal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Butenfeld 34, 22529 Hamburg, Germany Int J Legal Med DOI 10.1007/s00414-017-1685-4