The most common mechanism of blunt thoracic trauma is an MVC, followed by falls, assaults, and crush injuries. Compressive forces directly injure the thoracic cage and underlying viscera and result in rib fractures and pulmonary contusion. Deceleration produces traction on fixed structures such as the isthmus of the aorta and the carina and results in traumatic aortic and tracheobronchial injur...

Purpose: To study the respective contributions and correlations of autopsy PMCT in fatal ballistic injuries. Methods: A single-center retrospective descriptive was carried out over a 10-years period (2008–2017) that included cases injuries had undergone unenhanced followed by autopsy. In addition to demographics, main data collected independently at were number injuries, their trajectory, dista...

BACKGROUND Wartime missile injuries are frequently high-energy wounds that devitalize and contaminate tissue, with high risk for infection and wound complications. Debridement, irrigation, and closure by secondary intention are fundamental principles for the management of these injuries. However, closure by secondary intention was impractical in Iraqi patients. Therefore, wounds were closed def...

Background: Wartime missile injuries are frequently high-energy wounds that devitalize and contaminate tissue, with high risk for infection and wound complications. Debridement, irrigation, and closure by secondary intention are fundamental principles for the management of these injuries. However, closure by secondary intention was impractical in Iraqi patients. Therefore, wounds were closed de...

BACKGROUND This study was undertaken to determined the differences in injury patterns between soldiers equipped with modern body armor in an urban environment compared with the soldiers of the Vietnam War. METHODS From July 1998 to March 1999, data were collected for a retrospective analysis on all combat casualties sustained by United States military forces in Mogadishu, Somalia, on October ...

Fatalities resulting from sharp force injuries may be of accidental, homicidal or suicidal origin. Cut-throat and cut-stab wounds are “effective” in homicidal attacks with sharp objects, e. g. knifes, while accidental injuries in this topographic region caused by sharp objects are rarely seen and most often caused by broken glass. Self-inflicted cut throat and stab wounds are uncommon but never...

Obturator artery injury (OAI) from pelvic gunshot wounds (GSW) is a rarely reported condition. Hemorrhages from pelvic trauma (PT) are mostly venous. Arterial hemorrhages represent about 10-20% of PTs. When arterial hemorrhages from PT occur, they are a severe and deadly complication often causing significant hemodynamic instability and eventual shock. A 23-year-old male presented to our emerge...

The potential of skin measurements of D-dimer (DD), a specific derivative of crosslinked fibrin, for the diagnosis of the vital origin of wounds was investigated in 67 human vital skin wounds and homolateral control pieces of skin from 53 autopsies performed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Coimbra (Portugal) during 1992. Our results demonstrate that DD levels for the incised vital skin wo...

BACKGROUND Trauma characteristics and its management is influenced by socioeconomic context. Cardiac trauma constitutes a challenge for surgeons, and outcomes depend on multiple factors including initial care, characteristics of the wounds, and surgical management. METHODS This is a retrospective cross-sectional case series of patients with penetrating cardiac injuries (PCI) from January 1999...