Correlation of trauma circumstances and mechanism with the type, localization and range of cranial and intracranial injuries in traffic accident casualties
Journal Title: New Medicine - Year 2011, Vol 15, Issue 1
Abstract
A large number of traffic accident casualties are subjects to head traumas, causing difficulties in fast and correct diagnostics on site. It may lead to so called underdiagnosis and qualification of the case as ‘not urgent’. Objective. The objective of the study was to obtain data, which would help to foresee the nature of intracranial injuries in traffic accident casualties based on circumstances of the trauma and visible injuries within head integument. We tried to capture possible relations between the mechanism of trauma, external injuries and serious intracranial pathologies, eventually causing the victim’s death.Material and methods. Documentation of 219 traffic accident casualties kept by the Forensic Medicine Department, Medical University of Warsaw.Results. Among casualties of traffic accidents leading to a fatal head trauma, males constituted the considerable majority (78.1%). The average age amounted to 29.9 in male casualties and 44.77 in female casualties. Victims exposed to angular acceleration or angular acceleration associated with direct impact suffered from injuries in the form of subarachnoid bleeding, intracerebral/intraventricular bleeding and/or tear of deep cerebral structures, whereas casualties with the injury mechanism qualified as linear acceleration significantly more often suffered from cortical contusion and epidural haematomas. Among injuries of deep cerebral structures, cases of brain stem contusion most frequently referred to casualties who experienced rotation as an additional damage mechanism. Conclusions. Casualties of accidents suffering of trauma caused by rotation mechanism are exposed to considerably more severe injuries of cranial cavity structures than casualties of traumas caused by a different mechanism. Cerebral injuries induced by the mechanism of angular acceleration refer to the brain stem in particular. In cases where head protection has been used, they may occur without visible head injuries.
Authors and Affiliations
Witold Pawłowski, Paweł Krajewski, Marta Krasny, Piotr Fiedor
Keywords
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