Forensic Analysis of 8 Cases on Assessing Traffic Accident Disability Grade of Kümmell's Disease / 法医学杂志

Objective To provide a reference for the assessment of the disability grade of Kümmell's disease cases, through the analysis of the basic situation, the disability grade and the causality of Kümmell's disease cases. Methods Data of appraised individuals in 8 cases of Kümmell's disease from traffic accident spinal injury cases accepted by the Institute from 2015 to 2017 were collected, and the basic situation, vertebral fracture sites and disability grades of the appraised individuals were analyzed. Results Among 8 cases of appraised individuals, there were 2 males and 6 females, the oldest 75 years and the youngest 50 years, with an average age of 62.5 years, all of whom suffered from single vertebral fracture. Among them, 1 patient had thoracic 11 vertebra fracture, 3 thoracic 12 vertebra fracture, 2 lumbar 1 vertebra fracture, 1 lumbar 2 vertebra fracture, and 1 lumbar 4 vertebra fracture, all of whom were assessed as grade 10 disability. Conclusion In the assessment of disability grade of vertebral fracture, dynamic observation of the vertebral fracture and its recovery should be made based on imaging data. If it is suspected that there is Kümmell's disease, it should be differentiated from other diseases. Also, the disability grade will be assessed according to the corresponding standards when the morphology of the injured vertebral body is relatively stable.

Comparison between application of imaging techniques and autopsy in the identification of injury manner / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the application of imaging techniques in determining the death cause and injury manner.@*METHODS@#One case due to high fall was fully examined using multi-slice spiral computed tomography (MSCT), 3-D imaging creation and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The systemic and detailed autopsy was subsequently performed to compare with the results from imaging studies. The advantages and disadvantages of autopsy and imaging studies were then analyzed.@*RESULTS@#Most of the important information such as trauma, fracture and hemorrhage could be obtained by imaging techniques. Furthermore, imaging methods can predict injuries in internal body before autopsy and be minimal or non-invasive to the cadaver. However, the imaging techniques probably also can not find some details in comparison to autopsy in forensic practice and need to improve in their future application.@*CONCLUSION@#Application of imaging techniques can be used as the guidance and complimentary for the forensic autopsy in the identification of injury manner. In addition, the application can even be used to replace autopsy in some special circumstances.