Cargando…

Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment

Fatal neck injuries represent a major challenge in forensic pathology because the anatomical complexity and high variability of neck structures make it often extremely difficult to differentiate true pathological findings from artifacts at autopsy. This topic becomes even more relevant when the fore...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tarozzi, Ilaria, Franceschetti, Lorenzo, Bugelli, Valentina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9957214/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36833044
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11040510
_version_ 1784894770695372800
author Tarozzi, Ilaria
Franceschetti, Lorenzo
Bugelli, Valentina
author_facet Tarozzi, Ilaria
Franceschetti, Lorenzo
Bugelli, Valentina
author_sort Tarozzi, Ilaria
collection PubMed
description Fatal neck injuries represent a major challenge in forensic pathology because the anatomical complexity and high variability of neck structures make it often extremely difficult to differentiate true pathological findings from artifacts at autopsy. This topic becomes even more relevant when the forensic pathologist is required to make a pathophysiological evaluation of bone fractures in the absence of soft tissue to support the diagnosis. We report a case of unidentified, stone-covered, skeletonized human remains found within a pit below an abandoned building with bony lesions of the cervical spine and ribs, including a full-thickness fracture of the right lateral mass of the atlas (C1). After a careful study of the fractures was carried out by screening forensic literature and anthropological studies, clinical neurosurgical expertise was called upon to provide a reliable explanation. A rapid and violent twisting of the neck in the opposite direction from the fracture site by an attacker who pinned the victim’s torso is the scenario that most likely occurred in our case. This case report shows that the diagnosis of cervical spine injuries in skeletal remains should be the result of a multidisciplinary approach that integrates forensic, anthropological, and clinical expertise.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9957214
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-99572142023-02-25 Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment Tarozzi, Ilaria Franceschetti, Lorenzo Bugelli, Valentina Healthcare (Basel) Case Report Fatal neck injuries represent a major challenge in forensic pathology because the anatomical complexity and high variability of neck structures make it often extremely difficult to differentiate true pathological findings from artifacts at autopsy. This topic becomes even more relevant when the forensic pathologist is required to make a pathophysiological evaluation of bone fractures in the absence of soft tissue to support the diagnosis. We report a case of unidentified, stone-covered, skeletonized human remains found within a pit below an abandoned building with bony lesions of the cervical spine and ribs, including a full-thickness fracture of the right lateral mass of the atlas (C1). After a careful study of the fractures was carried out by screening forensic literature and anthropological studies, clinical neurosurgical expertise was called upon to provide a reliable explanation. A rapid and violent twisting of the neck in the opposite direction from the fracture site by an attacker who pinned the victim’s torso is the scenario that most likely occurred in our case. This case report shows that the diagnosis of cervical spine injuries in skeletal remains should be the result of a multidisciplinary approach that integrates forensic, anthropological, and clinical expertise. MDPI 2023-02-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9957214/ /pubmed/36833044 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11040510 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Case Report
Tarozzi, Ilaria
Franceschetti, Lorenzo
Bugelli, Valentina
Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment
title Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment
title_full Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment
title_fullStr Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment
title_short Assessment of Cervical Skeletal Trauma: The Synergistic Contribution of Forensic and Clinical Medicine to a Case of Corpse Concealment
title_sort assessment of cervical skeletal trauma: the synergistic contribution of forensic and clinical medicine to a case of corpse concealment
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9957214/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36833044
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11040510
work_keys_str_mv AT tarozziilaria assessmentofcervicalskeletaltraumathesynergisticcontributionofforensicandclinicalmedicinetoacaseofcorpseconcealment
AT franceschettilorenzo assessmentofcervicalskeletaltraumathesynergisticcontributionofforensicandclinicalmedicinetoacaseofcorpseconcealment
AT bugellivalentina assessmentofcervicalskeletaltraumathesynergisticcontributionofforensicandclinicalmedicinetoacaseofcorpseconcealment