1/99. Severe craniocerebral injury by an axe with good outcome: case report.We report a young patient who was operated on for a penetrating slow impact craniocerebral injury in the left frontal region caused by an axe. The patient was admitted comatose, with right hemiplegia. The blade of the axe was embedded deeply into his head. A craniectomy was carried out around the axe blade and it was removed easily. The cerebral wound was 6 cm long in horizontal plane and about 7 cm deep. Significant amount of contused and necrotic brain tissue was aspirated. The patient showed an uneventful recovery.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/99. Fatal brain injury caused by the free-flying blade of a knife - case report and evaluation of the unusual weapon.A man suffered a fatal injury from a self-inflicted accident while handling a special type of knife. A spring in the shaft of the knife accelerated the blade, which perforated the orbital cavity and the frontal lobe at the right side. death was due to central disregulation. The initial velocity of the blade was measured to be 15 m/s. In a total of 20 experimental shots to a fresh pig cadaver, the blade always penetrated the skin and 5-10 cm of soft tissue as long as the distance did not exceed 1 m. Thin layers of bone were also perforated. The free flight of the blade did not remain stable if the distance was more than 1 m, which resulted in superficial wounds only. So this unusual construction resembling a knife can be considered an effective combat weapon for close range fighting instead of a tool.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/99. Carotid artery-sygmoid sinus fistula: a rare complication of gunshot wound on the base of the cranium.Vascular lesions without clinical manifestation may occur in cranial-facial wounds produced by bullets that course the base of the cranium. This work describes a rare kind of vascular complication in cranial-facial gunshot wound. The authors present the case of a patient, the victim of a cranium-maxillary gunshot wound. Carotid angiography revealed a carotid-sygmoid sinus fistula that filled the sygmoid and transverse sinuses, concomitant to the arterial angiographic phase. A direct communication between the external carotid artery and the sygmoid sinus was disclosed. We are not aware of any other description of this vascular complication in cranial gunshot wound. It is important to recognize this kind of complication in cases of cranial-facial gunshot wound, because new factors harmful to the brain perfusion systems are introduced, in addition to the alterations to venous return and intracranial pressure, caused by the primary trauma. The new non-invasive vascular diagnostic methods are proving useful in filling the gap left by arteriography, which is no longer used in these cases.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 217.88571161168keywords = gunshot, wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/99. Multiple self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head: report of a case and review of the literature.Multiple self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head are rare and usually present a challenge to the pathologist and to the police in determining the manner of death. We report a case of two suicidal gunshot wounds to the head. The literature is reviewed, and the pertinent findings, including location of the wounds, location of the brain injuries, types of weapons used, and criteria important to determine the manner of death, are discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 163.66428370876keywords = gunshot, wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/99. Planned complex suicide: report of three cases.Three cases of planned complex suicide in a 3-year period are reported. A 40-year-old man was found dead, in his garage, hanging by his neck, with a gunshot in the head from a pen gun. A 50-year-old man was found dead in the sea with a gunshot to his head. A third man was found in a field hanging by a tree and burned. The investigation of the scenes and the methods used pointed toward a suicidal etiology. The main difference between planned complex suicide and those cases defined in medicolegal literature as combined suicides lies in the complex mechanism used by the victim as a protection against the failure of one of the mechanisms.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 52.22142790292keywords = gunshot (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/99. Craniocerebral injury resulting from transorbital stick penetration in children.OBJECTS: Two children were admitted to hospital for treatment of craniocerebral injury with transorbital penetration. methods: One child aged 6 years and 6 months had poked a chopstick in his orbit. There was no report of either a palpebral or an ocular wound. He had subsequently developed a meningeal syndrome with a cerebral abscess managed by needle aspiration biopsy and intravenous antibiotics. The other child, aged 4, had fallen onto a metal rod. He presented with a palpebral wound, motor disorders and coma, all due to a frontal intracerebral hematoma. There was an improvement in outcome without complications of an infectious nature or motor sequelae. CONCLUSIONS: Such head injuries are rare. Clinical, radiological and ophthalmological investigations must be performed, including computed tomography (CT) scan or cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with antibiotic treatment for suspected microorganisms.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/99. Brain injury after survived gunshot to the head: reactive alterations at sites remote from the missile track.Gunshot wounds to the brain usually lead to acute respiratory arrest or death after a brief survival period, even in cases involving only slight direct tissue damage. It can be assumed therefore that the damage extends beyond the zone of recognizable destruction and hemorrhages. To determine the true extent of the tissue injury resulting from gunshot wounds to the brain, we carried out microscopic investigations for reactive changes (emigration of leukocytes and macrophages, axonal expression of beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP) in 10 cases of gunshot wound to the narrow channel of the brain with survival times >2h. Demonstration of leukocytes expressing naphthol AS-D chloroacetate esterase activity in the brain tissue at the border of the missile track established the vitality of the gunshot effect. The presence of macrophages (CD68-epitope) allowed demarcation of a 1-2mm wide necrotic zone around the permanent cavity. Within this zone and beyond, beta-APP showed an initial increase followed by a decline in the number of injured axons. Three types of beta-APP positive staining could be differentiated. In the immediate vicinity of the missile track beta-APP positive neurons were present at a distance of 2-4mm from the margin of the permanent cavity (type 1) as a result of primary injured neuronal tissue by the gunshot itself. At longer distances from the narrow channel and the permanent cavity single beta-APP positive axons or axon fragments and two additional types were found; type 2 shows a parallel, wave-like arrangement of the damaged fibers, which suggests that the injury was produced by mechanical acceleration of the brain tissue created by the energy the projectile expended within the brain; irregular aggregation of beta-APP positive axons or axon fragments within a local edema represents type 3, which may be attributed to secondary ischemia or edema.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 211.88571161168keywords = gunshot, wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/99. High-velocity bullet causing indirect trauma to the brain and symptomatic epilepsy.epilepsy is a frequent consequence after missile wounds of the brain. So far, no epilepsy cases with missile injury have been described in which epilepsy ensued without direct missile injury of the brain. During world war ii, in 1941, our patient, then a soldier in the German army, suffered a bullet injury to the head; the bullet entered the cranium at the base of the nose. The bullet penetrated the head below the base of the cranium and remained stuck subcutaneously left of the second cervical vertebra. In the field hospital the patient suffered from focal seizures. The fits ceased within a few years under medication. In 1990 the seizures returned, this time with secondary generalization. In our case, a 7.62-mm bullet from the Russian Tokarev military pistol was used, which is known to have the highest muzzle velocity of all handguns available (> 500 m per second). We suspect that the so-called hydrodynamic effect of this high-velocity bullet caused an indirect trauma to the brain. This case shows that symptomatic epilepsy can occur after a penetrating head injury, without direct injury to brain tissue by a missile. High-velocity missiles are increasingly used in armed conflicts around the world. In light of the case reported here, in which the initial epilepsy was exacerbated more than 50 years after the wounding event, physicians must consider this possibility when dealing with veterans presenting with seizures. This case also has implications for the payment of benefits and pensions.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/99. Cranio-orbital missile wound and bullet migration. Case report.An unusual case of craniocerebral missile injury, with orbital roof perforation and spontaneous bullet migration into the maxillary sinus, is reported. emergency treatment consisted in wide craniectomy around the bullet entry point, blood and foreign bodies debridement. Subsequent procedures were necessary for abscess evacuation, transmaxillary bullet removal and later cranial vault reconstruction. Challenging aspects were the treatment of the infectious complications, following cerebrospinal fluid fistula through the wound, and the onset of post-traumatic epilepsy, scarcely responsive to common antiepileptic drugs. The treatment of the abscess by combined systemic and intracavitary antibiotic therapy and of the chronic seizures by progressive adjustment with new protocols of antiepileptic drugs under EEG and brain mapping revealed successful.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/99. Detection of gunshot residues in routine CTs.The forensic assessment of non-fatal gunshot wounds often proves to be difficult as wounds have usually been cleaned and protected with a sterile bandage by the time of the examination. The aim of our investigation was to test the possible application of computed tomography (CT) for the forensic assessment. Doing so raised the questions whether gunshot residues in the soft tissues, detected by means of 3-dimensional CT, can be used as evidence of a close-range shot and whether conclusions can be drawn pertaining to the range of the shot or the type of bullet used based on the distribution of the radiologically detectable material? In this experimental study 39 shots were fired at fresh pig skin and it was possible to distinguish shots fired from distances of more than 10 cm and contact shots independent of the type of bullet. For unjacketed lead bullets, radiopaque material could be seen in the depth of the entrance would for firing distances up to 10 cm. In individual cases, CT data and the 3-D reconstruction could provide valuable information in the forensic assessment of patients with gunshot wounds.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 185.77499766022keywords = gunshot, wound (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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