Post mortem study of congenital anomalies of the sternum bone.

ABSTRACT

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.