Terry Gross of NPR’s Fresh Air interviews Captain Craig T. Mallak, chief of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, who describes how virtual autopsies have improved medical equipment design:
One specific example is the recent improvement of chest tubes used buy combat medics. By examining 100 Ct Scans and measuring wounds, doctors found that because soldiers were in better shape than civilians, they needed longer tubes and needles to penetrate the chest wall and reach the collapsed lung.