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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...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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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 |
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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 |
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