Department of
Forensic Medicine
Representative:
Professor Kazuya Ikematsu
| Outline |
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Our department was opened in 1921 and is one of the most traditional forensic department in Japan. Forensic medicine is an academic discipline that goes beyond the performance of autopsies to determine the cause of a person’s death.
In addition to autopsy, an investigation of the cause of death also requires a range of various tests, including pharmaco-toxicological tests, X-ray and Computed Tomography (CT) imaging, and blood and urine biochemistry tests.
If dead body is discovered, establishing the person's identity and the environment in which they lived is crucial for determining whether their death was due to suicide, homicide, or accident.
Our department is equipped with world-leading technologies, for example, CT, voice input system, GC-MS, LC-MS/MS, virtual slide and biochemical devices and applies them to its teaching, research, and practice.
Of course, these tests should be performed by highly specialized staff. Forensic medicine also involves not only cadavers but also examining the victims of child abuse or domestic violence, enabling them to be taken into care before the situation escalate.
We will dedicate to make society safer in Japan, especially in Nagasaki Prefecture. And our department continuously trains professionals to raise the level of legal medicine practiced in Japan.
In research area, we focused on forensic molecular pathology; skin wound age estimation, protection response against chronic stress such as child and adult abuse, sudden death in juvenile and infant. |
