A Study of Injuries to Carotid Arteries in Vehicular Accidents

Abstract

The study was conducted in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, Nagpur. Total 100 cases were examined to study various patterns, anatomical location of the cervical carotid artery injuries. Traumatic vascular injury to the extra cranial circulation appears relatively underdiagnosed in part because of frequent co-existence of traumatic brain injury. The blunt injuries to the carotid arteries usually present late with devastating stroke. As per this study, the maximum number of cases belonged to the age group 21-30 years (27%) and 82% of the victims were male. In only 42.3% of the cases with carotid artery injuries, there were surface injuries to the neck. The most common vessel involved was left common carotid artery (45.9%) followed by right common carotid artery (35.1%). In maximum number of cases, the cause of death was head injury (65%) which usually masks the presentation of the carotid artery injury. The multiple i.e. dual vessel involvement was found in the 42.31% of the positive cases suggesting possible mechanism of hyperextension of the neck rather than direct trauma. Language: en