1/13. Extensive facial damage caused by a blast injury arising from a 6 volt lead accumulator.Low-voltage electrical injuries are relatively uncommon. Injury caused by flow of heavy current due to short-circuiting a low-voltage battery has not been described in the English literature. A 9-year-old boy connected two thin household electrical wires to the two terminals of a 6 volt (lead accumulator) battery and pressed the other two ends between his teeth. This resulted in a blast causing a compound comminuted fracture of the mandible and extensive tissue damage in the oral cavity. The low internal resistance of a lead accumulator (approximately 0.03 ohms) permits the flow of a heavy current (approximately 200 amps) when short-circuited. This instantaneously vaporises a minuscule portion of wire at approximately 2000 K resulting in a sudden rise of intraoral pressure to 30 kg cm-2 leading to tissue damage.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = cavity (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/13. Death caused by a letter bomb.A 48-year-old man was killed by the explosion of a letter bomb after receiving severe injuries to his face and left hand. The autopsy ascertained that the right eye and orbit had been completely destroyed by a large piece of metal from a tin can that had entered the cranial cavity through the right eye and caused fatal brain damage. The victim had also sustained a severe injury to his left hand. Reconstruction of the metal and plastic fragments showed that the victim had received a padded envelope with a video cassette in which a simple explosive device was hidden in a flat tin. The explosive charge consisted of a mixture (ca. 60 g) of sodium chlorate, sodium chloride and sucrose. The charge was detonated by a nylon cord attached to the inside of the envelope which was stretched when the video cassette was pulled out of the envelope. This removed a piece of plastic from between two contacts, and the explosion was set off immediately by a battery which activated two flash bulbs placed within the charge.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = cavity (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/13. Suicidal deaths using fireworks.The use of commercial explosives is an unusual method of commiting suicide, and only a few cases have been described in the medicolegal literature. In this paper, two cases of suicide are considered that reflect backgrounds of financial problems and psychological illnesses, respectively. Both individuals comitted suicide by detonating an explosive (fireworks). In the first case putting the explosive on his head and in the second case into his mouth. In both cases the cause of death was the destruction of the central nervous system. The following cases emphasize the importance of the forensic pathologist in the recognition of the scene, as well as the systematical collection of trace evidence of the explosion for their subsequent study in the laboratory and their correlation with the autopsy findings.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 3.6423242888018keywords = mouth (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/13. Free gas in the peritoneal cavity: the final hazard of diathermy.fires and explosions in the operating theatre are rare events, but are devastating in terms of structural damage to the equipment in theatres and to human lives. Fuel, oxygen, and source of ignition are the three factors causing explosion. Explosion during emergency laparotomy for perforated bowel has not been reported in the literature. In the case reported here, fuel in the form of free gas came from the perforated stomach, after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. oxygen used during cardiopulmonary resuscitation had entered the peritoneal cavity through the perforation. The source of ignition was diathermy. It was fatal.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = cavity (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/13. Nonterrorist suicidal deaths involving explosives.Suicidal deaths involving explosives unconnected to terrorism are rare. The investigation of deaths from explosive devices requires a multidisciplinary collaborative effort, as demonstrated in this study. Reported are 2 cases of nonterrorist suicidal explosive-related deaths with massive craniocerebral destruction. The first case involves a 20-year-old man who was discovered in the basement apartment of his father's home seconds after an explosion. At the scene investigators recovered illegal improvised power-technique explosive devices, specifically M-100s, together with the victim's handwritten suicide note. The victim exhibited extensive craniofacial injuries, which medicolegal officials attributed to the decedent's intentionally placing one of these devices in his mouth. The second case involves a 46-year-old man who was found by his wife at his home. In the victim's facial wound, investigators recovered portions of a detonator blasting cap attached to electrical lead wires extending to his right hand. A suicide note was discovered at the scene. The appropriate collection of physical evidence at the scene of the explosion and a detailed examination of the victim's history is as important as documentation of injury patterns and recovery of trace evidence at autopsy. A basic understanding of the variety of explosive devices is also necessary. This investigatory approach greatly enhances the medicolegal death investigator's ability to reconstruct the fatal event as a means of separating accidental and homicidal explosive-related deaths from this uncommon form of suicide.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 3.6423242888018keywords = mouth (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/13. A case of a death by explosives: the keys to a proper investigation.Suicidal deaths involving an explosive, unrelated to a terrorist act, are rare. The rarity of such events presents a unique environment for those investigating such a death. We report a case of suicide involving a 29-year-old white male who detonated a firework in his mouth, resulting in massive craniocerebral destruction. He was discovered in his residence shortly after the explosion. Initially, the case was believed to be a fatal gunshot wound by the paramedics and homicide detectives at the scene. Several small pieces of red colored paper and a possible end cap were located throughout the scene. Analysis of the paper and end cap showed trace components consistent with flash powder. The victim had used a pyrotechnic device to commit suicide. Therefore, it is critical for those who investigate deaths be able to identify cases that involve explosives in order to properly collect and analyze the evidence.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 3.6423242888018keywords = mouth (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/13. Successful treatment of burn and visceral injury combined with full-thickness loss of the abdominal wall after blast injury.A 29-year-old man was admitted to our institution 10 days after he had undergone an urgent exploratory laparotomy at a local army hospital after a terrorist bombing attack. On admission, deep second-degree and third-degree burns involving 25% of the upper and lower extremities were present, together with a 25 x 10-cm abdominal full-thickness blast injury defect on the left side, an infected eviscerated midline incision, and a colostomy on the right side of the abdomen. The patient underwent a second laparotomy, at which time the intraabdominal abscess was drained, and the abdominal cavity was irrigated with saline. A jejunal perforation was found and sutured. The abdominal cavity was left open and covered with a Bogota bag for temporary closure. On postburn day 18, the patient underwent debridment and grafting of the third-degree burns to the left and right arm and right lower extremities. After several debridment sessions (postburn days 16, 18, 20, 22, and 24), an abdominal skin release and reapproximation were performed (postburn day 26). On postburn day 36, split-thickness skin grafts were placed directly on the granulated tissue of the intestines and on a defect in the left flank and iliac regions. Postoperatively, the patient did well. He was discharged on postburn day 78 with all wounds well healed. In our opinion, temporary closure followed by direct application of meshed split-thickness skin grafts to exposed abdominal viscera represents a simple method of reconstruction that can be safely performed, with minimal risk, on critically ill patients.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = cavity (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/13. Unusual blast colonic injury due to a fall.Civilian colonic injuries are usually due to penetrating injuries like gun shots, stab wounds and blunt trauma especially following road traffic accidents. blast injuries are caused by bomb blasts, intracolonic explosion of gases after diathermy, over-enthusiastic bowel insufflation at sigmoidoscopy or by pressure hose applied to the anus. We report the case of a 28-year old man with an unusual blast injury of the colon following a fall from a colanut tree. The transverse colon was sheared off at its two ends while the descending colon was split open along its entire length. There was a delay of 14 hours before the man was discovered in the remote bush and brought to hospital. The mode of injury, its severity and the ultimate favourable outcome are quite unique considering the gross faecal soilage of the peritoneal cavity and the inevitable time lapse before the institution of medical care.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = cavity (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/13. compressed air emboli of the aorta and renal artery in blast injury.A patient with severe blast injury died shortly after his arrival in the emergency room. A massive compressed air embolism of the aorta was found during exploration of the abdominal cavity in order to use the kidneys for transplantation. The post-mortem findings in the kidney were mainly of multiple air spaces in the interstitium compressing the collecting tubules.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = cavity (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/13. Oral blast injury caused by an accident.Blast trauma within the oropharyngeal cavity may be associated with superficial or deep injuries. Superficial injury generally needs only observation; deeper injury that violates the retropharyngeal space may produce dissecting emphysema into the neck and mediastinum followed by prevertebral soft tissue infections and mediastinitis. Injury involving the parapharyngeal space might damage vital cervical vessels. life-threatening complications may result unless treatment is adequate. Three children who sustained oropharyngeal blast injury are presented. The direct cause was the blast effect of a new, spoiled, orange-flavor beverage just released on the market. The bottle cap of the soft drink and its effervescent liquid "exploded" into their mouths while they were trying to open the bottle with their teeth. Obviously, the failure to observe due precautions, as frequently happens among children, contributed to the occurrence of the accidents. This paper describes the diagnosis, management, and relevant educational and preventive measures of the problem.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 4.6423242888018keywords = mouth, cavity (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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