Forensic Aspects of Trauma 2 Flashcards
What are typical defensive type injuries?
Can be blunt or sharp force
What can defensive type injuries be classed as?
- Passive
- Victim raises arms and legs for protection
- Sliced, shelved often with skin flaps over back of hands and forearms
- Active
- Victim tries to grab weapon or attackers hand
- Sliced shelved incised wounds on palmer aspects of hands and web spaces between fingers
What are passive and active defensive type injuries?
- Passive
- Victim raises arms and legs for protection
- Sliced, shelved often with skin flaps over back of hands and forearms
- Active
- Victim tries to grab weapon or attackers hand
- Sliced shelved incised wounds on palmer aspects of hands and web spaces between fingers
How can you identify self-inflicted injuries?
- Commonly sharp force
- Site of election
- Often wrists, forearms, chest and abdomen
- Parallel, multiple and tentative incisions
- Positions of clothing
What are common sites of injuries for self-inflicted injuries?
- Often wrists, forearms, chest and abdomen
What do the consequences of an injury depend on?
- Type of mechanical insult
- Blunt, sharp, homicidal, suicide, accident etc
- Nature of target tissue
- Head, chest, abdomen, fat
- Forces involved
- High speed RTC, fall from height, kicking, stamping, punch
- Number of impacts
- Single vs multiple
What are examples of head injuries?
- Standard skin injuries from before
- Skull fractures
- Linear, depressed
- Bleeding over brain
What are the different kinds of skull fracture?
- Linear, depressed
What is bleeding over the brain associated with?
Fractures
- Subarachnoid
- Often caused by aneurysm
- But can also occur due to trauma, called traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage
- Usually due to punch at jaw, causing rapid rotational movement of head
- Immediate unconsciousness and cardiac arrest, so suspected to be brainstem damage
- Subdural
- Venous blood so accumulates slow
- Extradural
- Arterial blood so accumulates quick
What is subarachnoid haemorrhage often caused by?
- Often caused by aneurysm
- But can also occur due to trauma, called traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage
- Usually due to punch at jaw, causing rapid rotational movement of head
- Immediate unconsciousness and cardiac arrest, so suspected to be brainstem damage
What speed do the following present:
- subarachnoid haemorrhage
- subdural haemorrhage
- extradural haemorrhage
- Subarachnoid
- Immediate unconsciousness and cardiac arrest, so suspected to be brainstem damage
- Subdural
- Venous blood so accumulates slow
- Extradural
- Arterial blood so accumulates quick
Do the following involve arterial or venous blood:
- subdural haemorrhage
- extradural haemorrhage
- Subdural
- Venous blood so accumulates slow
- Extradural
- Arterial blood so accumulates quick
How does the outcome of brain haemorrhage vary with volume of blood?
What is a brain diffuse injury?
- Diffuse axonal injury (immediate and prolonged coma with no apparent mass lesion or metabolic abnormality) is the clinical term for traumatic axonal injury pathological term (damaged axons due to trauma)
- TAI can be focal or diffuse (grade 1-3 based on severity)
What is diffuse axonal injury the clinical term for?
Traumatic axonal injury (pathological term)
What does TAI stand for?
Traumatic axonal injury
What are the different kinds of TAI?
- TAI can be focal or diffuse (grade 1-3 based on severity)
What does internal damage often depend on?
Type of injuries
What internal injuries are often seen in blunt force for the following areas:
- ribs
- lungs
- heart
- aorta
- abdomen
What internal injuries are often seen in sharp force for the following areas:
- ribs
- lungs
- heart
- aorta
- abdomen
Other than blunt force and sharp force, what are examples of other types of injuries?
- Burns
- Full thickness or partial thickness
- Firearms injuries
- Explosions
- Resuscitation
- Includes bruising to neck, finger marks, bruising/laceration of lips and gums, damage to teeth, sternal and rib fractures, pleural cavity haemorrhage, laceration of lung, heart rupture, venopuncture and cannulation
- Post mortem injuries
- Clues are lack of vital reaction and parchmentation
- Could be animal or insect predation
What is typically seen due to resuscitation injuries?
- Includes bruising to neck, finger marks, bruising/laceration of lips and gums, damage to teeth, sternal and rib fractures, pleural cavity haemorrhage, laceration of lung, heart rupture, venopuncture and cannulation
What are clues for post-mortem injuries?
- Clues are lack of vital reaction and parchmentation
- Could be animal or insect predation
