Fatal Neck Injuries Research Articles

Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment

Fatal neck injuries represent a major challenge in forensic pathology because the anatomical complexity and high variability of neck structures make it often extremely difficult to differentiate true pathological findings from artifacts at autopsy. This topic becomes even more relevant when the forensic pathologist is required to make a pathophysiological evaluation of bone fractures in the absence of soft tissue to support the diagnosis. We report a case of unidentified, stone-covered, skeletonized human remains found within a pit below an abandoned building with bony lesions of the cervical spine and ribs, including a full-thickness fracture of the right lateral mass of the atlas (C1). After a careful study of the fractures was carried out by screening forensic literature and anthropological studies, clinical neurosurgical expertise was called upon to provide a reliable explanation. A rapid and violent twisting of the neck in the opposite direction from the fracture site by an attacker who pinned the victim's torso is the scenario that most likely occurred in our case. This case report shows that the diagnosis of cervical spine injuries in skeletal remains should be the result of a multidisciplinary approach that integrates forensic, anthropological, and clinical expertise.

A Weird Way to Sustain a Near Fatal Neck Injury, A Case Report

Accidental injuries are common during festivals. With time, the traditional practices have been ill-defined and have turned out social misconduct and malpractice. Children and young adults barricade the road to extort money from the passerby in the name of tradition during festivals. Barricading roads occasionally results in loss of control over vehicles and falling down on the road sustaining trauma including neck injuries among the drivers. This is a report of a case of a young male biker who got trapped along the rope tied across the road and nearly strangulated to death.

Development of a finite element neck model for head-first compressive impacts: Toward the assessment of motorcycle neck protective equipment.

Head-first compressive impacts occur in motorcycle crashes and may result in serious to fatal neck injuries to riders. Equipment to protect the riders' necks from these injuries are available in the market; however, their effectiveness in reducing injury risk is not clear, either due to the lack of scientific evidences or assessment with any prevalently accepted standard. This paper presents a finite element ligamentous neck model, developed as a computationally efficient tool, for future use in the computational phase of assessment process of neck protective equipment. The 3D cervical spine was generated using the mean statistical dimensions of vertebrae and proposed constitutive models, provided in the scientific literature. Ligaments, for the vertebra-vertebra and Hybrid III head-vertebra ligamentous joints, were introduced with the aid of published anatomical descriptions. For validation, the response of the head-neck system under compressive loadings and the flexion-extension bending stiffness of the neck at the segment level were compared against experimental data. The advanced CORrelation and Analysis (CORA) algorithm was applied on the validation responses to assess biofidelity of the model. The results indicate that the model is functional and meets ISO/TR9790 standard as a "good" biofidelic model.

Fatal injury by an unmodified blank pistol: A case report and review of the literature

In this paper, we report a fatal neck injury of suicidal origin of a 29-year-old man. A 9-mm blank pistol and several blank cartridges in a plastic bag were discovered near the victim. There was an irregular and contuse oval contact-entrance wound of 25 mm × 20 mm with a muzzle imprint on its upper medial part on the right side of the neck. The cause of death was exsanguination due to injuries to the right external carotid artery and the right jugular vein. This case confirms that blank pistols, contrary to public opinion, are dangerous and may inflict potentially fatal injuries when fired at close or contact range. In addition, previously reported 18 fatal injuries by blank cartridges caused by unmodified blank pistols between 1990 and 2009 are reviewed and summarized. It is concluded that as blank pistols may cause fatal injuries even without any modification, it is necessary to develop new standards for their production.

Unusual suicides of young women with tentative cuts and fatal neck injuries by chain saw and circular saw

Suicides with chain saws and circular saws are extreme exceptions, in particular with regard to females and concerning the neck region. We report two of such rare cases involving young women. A 30-year-old female with a known schizoaffective psychosis killed herself with an electric chain saw. The autopsy revealed a deep saw cut of the neck and shoulder with partial transection of the cervical spine. Several tentative saw cuts were present on the right lower jaw. A 29-year-old woman suffering from depression committed suicide by use of a circular saw. She inflicted herself fatal neck injuries with at least three separate cutting procedures. Our cases were characterized by the following features: female sex, young adulthood, no occupational experience with saws, psychiatric disorders, absence of alcohol or drugs, use of an aggressive method of suicide, focus of saw injuries on the right side of the neck, detection of tentative saw cuts or several trials, identical causes of death (exsanguination and blood aspiration).

Neck Injuries Caused by Automatic Two-point Seat Belts: An Analysis of Four Cases

Although seat belts significantly reduce the extent and severity of injuries sustained by motor vehicle occupants, seat belts are known to be associated with chest and abdominal trauma. Less commonly understood are severe neck injuries caused by the use of two-point automatic shoulder harnesses without concurrent use of a manual lap belt. Such injuries may include cervical spine fractures, craniocervical dislocations and rarely decapitation. Recognizing patterned injuries caused by seat belts and the ability to correlate autopsy findings with the circumstances surrounding the death will allow for correct interpretation of seat-belt related trauma. The four cases described detail fatal neck injuries as a result of improper seat belt use in which an automatic two-point shoulder harness was used without a manual lap restraint. In two of the cases, the victims were decapitated.

Fatal neck injuries caused by blank cartridges

We report three cases where fatal neck injuries were caused by blanks from starting pistols. The weapons were loaded with blank cartridges or tear gas cartridges. Neither live ammunition nor any form of projectile was used. All three cases involved a contact discharge. The gas pressure caused by firing the weapons created extensive wound cavities in all three cases. Each victim died from blood loss as a result of ruptured cervical vessels; there were no air embolisms. In one case, a man shot himself eight times with two different starting pistols, and the wounds could be matched to each gun by the muzzle imprint marks on the neck.