Age Determination From Macroscopic Examination Of Sphenooccipital Synchondrosis Closure.

Abstracts: Background & Objective: Age determination from degree of closure of sphenooccipital suture (Synchondrosis). Methodology: This study was conducted during the period of January 2012 to August 2013 at Department of Forensic Medicine, P.D.U. Govt. Medical College & Hospital, Rajkot. 100 cases of age between 8 to 26 years have been taken to cover minimum period of starting the fusion and maximum period of completion of fusion for age determination from sphenooccipital suture. Results: For male, minimum age for open, semi closed and closed sphenooccipital suture was 8 years, 13 years and 18 years respectively while for female, it was 8 years, 13 years and 16 years respectively. For male, maximum age for open, semi open and closed sphenooccipital suture was 13 years, 18 years and 26 years respectively while for female, it was 13 years, 16 years and 26 years respectively. Conclusion: Commencement of union at sphenooccipital suture occurs at the age of 13 years in both sex and complete obliteration of cartilaginous disc occurs at the age of 18 years in male and 16 years in female.

Age Determination From Macroscopic Examination Of Sphenooccipital Synchondrosis Closure.

Abstracts: Background & Objective: Age determination from degree of closure of sphenooccipital suture (Synchondrosis). Methodology: This study was conducted during the period of January 2012 to August 2013 at Department of Forensic Medicine, P.D.U. Govt. Medical College & Hospital, Rajkot. 100 cases of age between 8 to 26 years have been taken to cover minimum period of starting the fusion and maximum period of completion of fusion for age determination from sphenooccipital suture. Results: For male, minimum age for open, semi closed and closed sphenooccipital suture was 8 years, 13 years and 18 years respectively while for female, it was 8 years, 13 years and 16 years respectively. For male, maximum age for open, semi open and closed sphenooccipital suture was 13 years, 18 years and 26 years respectively while for female, it was 13 years, 16 years and 26 years respectively. Conclusion: Commencement of union at sphenooccipital suture occurs at the age of 13 years in both sex and complete obliteration of cartilaginous disc occurs at the age of 18 years in male and 16 years in female.

Study of medial end of fourth ribs with special reference to changes in pit shapes according to age, a qualitative approach.

Background: The objectives of this study were to find changes of pit shape at sternal end of fourth ribs in accordance with age in males, to find bilateral variability in changes of pit shape according to age and to compare the data with previous study. Methods: Total 180 ribs were obtained from male cadavers brought for post-mortem examination. Out of which 140 ribs belonged to 70 cases were included in the study. Each rib was classified according to different stages of pit shape. The data derived were statistically analysed. Results: Pit shape changes from shallow dent to „V‟, from „V‟ to „U‟, from „U‟ to „wide mouth U‟ up to sixties of age and after that the quality of the walls surrounding the pit decreases without changes in shape of pit. There was no any bilateral variation found in pit shape changes for age. Conclusions: Changes of pit shape at sternal end of fourth ribs are age dependent without bilateral variations. Age estimation by this method gives general idea about the age in decades only

Post mortem study of congenital anomalies of the sternum bone.

Introduction: The sternum is one of the skeleton parts with frequent variation in appearances on images or autopsy series. Method:Present study was carried out during the year 2010 and 2011 at Department of Forensic Medicine, P. D. U. Government Medical College, Rajkot. The study was carried out to find out congenital anomalies of sternum bone recovered from the cadavers during post mortem examination. Result: Total 114 sternum bones were studied out of which 24 were having congenital anomalies either in the body of sternum or in xiphoid process. No any abnormality is found in manubrium. Sternal foramen is found in 10 cases and it is the most common form of congenital anomaly of sternum. Other anomalies are xiphoid foramen in 7 cases, fissured 4th segment in 5 cases and bifid xiphoid is found in 2 cases. Misinterpretation of autopsy findings has been a major concern to forensic pathologists. This article documents the occurrence of relatively rare congenital anomalies which may be misleading and may result in serious erroneous conclusions, particularly when evaluating skeletonised human remains. Conclusion: Presence of these anomalies and their antemortem records in the form of previous x rays make important data for the identification of skeletonised remains.

Original research paper trends of fatal poisoning in saurashtra region of gujarat (a prospective study).

Everyday around the world almost 700 people die from the poisoning and several thousands more are affected by poisoning. Poisoning occurs in all regions and countries and affects people in all age and income group. Major occupation in Saurashtra region of Gujarat is farming with majority of population living in rural areas where the cases of accidental and suicidal poisoning are common and incidences are increasing day by day due to the use of pesticides for a wider variety of purposes. A detailed knowledge about the nature and magnitude of the poisoning cases in this particular area is not only important for early diagnosis and prompt treatment but also it may help to form policies to curb the access of the population to certain very toxic substances. The present study was undertaken in the department of Forensic Medicine at Rajkot (Gujarat) to know the pattern of fatal poisoning. Total 208 cases of death due to fatal poisoning were selected for this prospective study, which were brought to us for postmortem examination during the span of one year (From January 2007 to December 2007). Our study revealed that most of the victims of fatal poisoning were Hindus, married males of middle socio-economic status who died due to self ingestion of some poison.

Histo-pathology examination in medico-legal autopsy pros & cons.

Medico legal autopsy examination is performed by the forensic expert with a view to searching primarily for the cause of death. It is performed on the instructions of legal authority in circumstances relating to suspicious, sudden, obscure, unnatural, litigious or criminal deaths and the information so derived, to be applied for legal purpose to assist the course of justice. Medico legal autopsies differ in the purpose and procedure from pathological autopsies but sometimes they overlap with each other at various levels. Histopathology examination is commonly asked by autopsy surgeon to establish the cause of death when he recognizes any morbid anatomical changes in tissues and suspect that it may be the reason for cessation of vital functions of deceased. During the period of three years from 2005-2007, a retrospective study was conducted at PDU Medical College, Rajkot to know weather routine histo-pathological examination is essential in medico legal autopsies or it is creating only an extra burden over the pathologists, autopsy surgeon and law enforcing agencies in any way.

Postmortem burns: An artefact due to transportation.

An artefact is any change caused or feature introduced in a body after death (accidentally or physiologically unrelated finding to the natural state of the body) that is likely to lead to misinterpretation of medico legally significant ante mortem findings. Artefacts due to burns are usually attributed to prolonged exposure of flame (in cases of death due to burns), Or else due to attempts made to burn a body after homicide with the object of concealing the crime. Post mortem artefact due to burns in the present case, its implication and proposed mechanism are discussed in detail due to rarity of its kind.

Contradictory skull and age estimation.

The corpus delicti means the facts of any criminal offence. The main part of the corpus delicti is the establishment of identity of the dead body and infliction of violence in a particular way, at a particular time and place, by the person on persons charged with the crime and none other. The case against the accused cannot be established unless there is convincing proof of these points. If the victim’s identity is not known, it becomes difficult for the police to solve the crime. Determination of the age of the individual comes in routine forensic practice, as the age of the victim is one of the three primary characteristics of identification. But in few cases it is not easy to opine about the age of the victim especially when we are receiving only a single bone like skull with contradictory findings. The presented case report is an attempt to discuss that how we can solve such problems by considering the other criteria’s for age estimation in skull which can be of a great use when some contradictory findings are there in remains of skeleton.

The fire is both “a blessing & scourge to the mankind”.

Man has always needed fire either to prepare his food to satisfy his hunger or to induce warmth during winters. Simultaneously he is constantly exposed to the hazards of burns, which begins right from the day one of his life, when the maternity nurse gives him the first hot water bath. That is why it is said, “The fire has been both a blessing and scourge to the mankind”. The present study was conducted in department of forensic medicine PDU Medical College, Rajkot during the period from Nov. 2004 to Oct. 2005 with a view to study the profile of burn cases brought for the post mortem examination. All the data related to age, sex, marital status, type and manner of burns with area involved, and survival time were recorded with detailed autopsy examination and subsequently analyzed statistically. We reached at a conclusion that majority of the victims were married females of younger age group between 20-40 years, with an extensive accidental flame burns.

A Case of fabricated snake bite.

Fabricated wounds are the type of injuries, which are produced by a person on his own body or occasionally caused by another person acting in agreement with him. On 9th February 2007, a case-file of post mortem examination was brought to us for the expert opinion with the alleged history of snake bite from a rural hospital about 60 Km from PDU Medical College, Rajkot. On going through the police papers, we found that it was a case of fabricated snake bite in which the accused has raised a fabricated death certificate to gain the money of insurance, while the victim died due to cardiac arrest on account of myocardial infraction as per clinical record of a private hospital where he was declared dead.

Reconstruction: A recipe of forensic medicine.

Mostly in medicolegal cases for the purpose of investigation in the right direction it is important to know and see whether findings or injuries present over the body are consistent with the history or not. This becomes more important in certain cases like death in police custody and death in police encounter, where the integrity of law enforcing agencies is at stake and for that consistency of findings with the history given by them is important. This is only possible by meticulous examination of the body and then reconstruction of the findings, which leads to a particular outcome. And that is why it is said, that “Reconstruction of the crime is like a recipe of forensic medicine”.