Patterns of Cranio-cerebral Injuries in Fatal Head Trauma

Abstract

The objective of this study was to find out pattern of cranio-cerebral injuries in medico-legal cases of fatal head trauma with regards to age, sex, survival period, causes and complications leading to death of the victim. Materials were collected from 48 medico-legal cases of fatal head injury which were brought for autopsy at the mortuary of PCMS & RC, Bhopal from 01 Jan 2011 to 31Dec 2011. It was found that most commonly involved age group was 21–40 with male outnumbering the female in a ratio of 4.9 to 1. Vehicular accident was the leading cause for fatalities in 91.66% cases. 18.75% died on the spot while 45.83% of the remaining survived for 0–12 hrs. Fractures of the skull had occurred in around 81.25% of the cases. Among whole of skull cap temporal bone was most prone to fracture (22.91%) while linear/fissured fracture was the commonest type (35.41%). SDH was noted in 31.25% of cases. 18.75% deaths had occurred on the spot while 45.83% of the remaining had survived for 0–12 hrs. Traumatic cranio-cerebral injury was the primary cause of death in slightly more than the half of the victims (52.08%) indicating that timely intervention could have saved the lives of unfortunate hapless victims.