Reconstruction of devastating head injuries: a useful method in forensic pathology

Int J Legal Med. 2011 Jul;125(4):587-90. doi: 10.1007/s00414-011-0553-x. Epub 2011 Jan 28.

Abstract

Crushing head injuries usually do not allow direct visual identification of individuals, and above all, it constitutes an obstacle to comprehensive evaluation of discrete traumatic changes of the skin and soft tissues. We present our experience with the plastic adaptation of devastating head injuries in the two exemplary cases. The principal of the reconstruction is manual repositioning of bone fragments of the cranial and facial parts of the skull and careful approximation of the wound edges and their gradual suture using suture material. The reconstruction method can be recommended as an auxiliary technique in the identification of unknown victims with crushing head injuries and in the evaluation of devastating gunshot wound of the head.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Accidents, Occupational / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Craniocerebral Trauma / pathology*
  • Facial Bones / pathology
  • Facial Injuries / pathology
  • Forensic Anthropology / methods*
  • Head Injuries, Penetrating / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Skull / pathology
  • Suicide / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Suture Techniques
  • Wounds, Gunshot / pathology*
  • Young Adult