Trauma By Source

Question 1

What are the 6 types of trauma?

Answer 1

blunt force, sharp force, projectile, chemical, thermal, and blast

Question 2

What are individual characteristics?

Answer 2

characteristics unique to a particular object/person (ex. DNA)

Question 3

What are class characteristics?

Answer 3

characteristics unique to a wide group of things (ex. tire tread)

Question 4

What does blunt force trauma result from?

Answer 4

force impacting a bone over a wide area, causing discontinuities and fracture lines

Question 5

What are the three traits of BFT objects?

Answer 5

size, shape, and weight

Question 6

In BFT, what sized widths need less force to cause fractures?

Answer 6

small widths

Question 7

What are the key characteristics of shape traits in BFT?

Answer 7

cross-sectional shape (round vs. angular), longitudinal configuration (straight vs. curved), and patterned injuries

Question 8

Is weight applicable in falls and auto accidents?

Answer 8

No

Question 9

Bone bruise/occult intraosseous fracture

Answer 9

trabecular bone breaks causing blood to pool

Question 10

Epiphyseal fracture

Answer 10

fusion has started but not finished –> weaker than normal –> breaks apart again

Question 11

What are the two steps that occur when force impacts the skull?

Answer 11

1. in-bending at site of impact with out-bending around impact site
2. fracture lines form on out-bent surfaces and radiate out in all directions

Question 12

When force impacts the skull, fracture lines start on the ____ surface and progress ____.

Answer 12

inner; outward

Question 13

What is the diploe?

Answer 13

the inside table of the bone of the skull

Question 14

Significance of areas of buttressing when force is applied?

Answer 14

areas of buttressing guides where blunt forces can be dissipated as fracture lines don’t go through these denser areas

Question 15

What is the Lefort 1 fracture?

Answer 15

separates maxilla

Question 16

What is the Lefort 2 fracture?

Answer 16

mid-face separates from the rest of the cranium

Question 17

What is the Lefort 3 fracture?

Answer 17

entire face is separated from the braincase

Question 18

Ring fracture

Answer 18

rare, caused by skull being forced down onto vertebral column or pulled away, encircles the base of the skull

Question 19

What are the eight steps to BFT wound analysis?

Answer 19

1. description of wounds
2. estimation of size
3. shape
4. direction
5. energy
6. number (minimum)
7. sequence of blows
8. any miscellaneous estimations

Question 20

What does sharp force trauma result from?

Answer 20

results from narrowly focused, dynamic compression forces applied to bone

Question 21

What are the three types of sharp force trauma?

Answer 21

1. Puncture (from a vertical direction)
2. Incision (from force being applied across the bone surface)
3. Cleft (vertical force from long sharp edge)

Question 22

Hanging

Answer 22

body suspended, hyoid breaks 8% of the time

Question 23

Ligature

Answer 23

cord, ect. applied force, hyoid breaks 11% of the time

Question 24

Manual

Answer 24

squeezed by hands, hyoid breaks 34% of the time

Question 25

Is blunt force trauma slow or high velocity?

Answer 25

slow velocity

Question 26

Is ballistic trauma slow or high velocity?

Answer 26

high velocity

Question 27

What is wounding power correlated to?

Answer 27

the kinetic energy dissipated during deceleration through the target

Question 28

Greater loss of velocity =

Answer 28

greater damage

Question 29

Faster bullet =

Answer 29

greater damage

Question 30

Bigger bullet =

Answer 30

greater damage

Question 31

What does severity of a gunshot wound depend on?

Answer 31

the amount of KE lost in the tissue

Question 32

What is the mechanism of wounding for a GSW?

Answer 32

the temporary and permanent cavities inside the tissues

Question 33

Penetrating GSW

Answer 33

enters but doesn't exit the body

Question 34

Perforating GSW

Answer 34

enters and exits the body

Question 35

What type of GSW causes the most internal damage?

Answer 35

penetrating GSW

Question 36

Temporary cavity

Answer 36

tunneling of bullet in tissue with tissue expansion on each side leading to massive tearing of immediate and remote tissues; there and gone faster than the eye can see

Question 37

TRUE or FALSE: increased KE lost = decreased size of temporary cavity

Answer 37

FALSE

Question 38

Permanent cavity

Answer 38

wound track with remains in tissues after temporary cavity has disappeared

Question 39

What are the f factors affecting loss of KE?

Answer 39

amount of KE it started with, caliber/construction/configuration, angle of yaw, tumble, tissue characteristics

Question 40

Is more energy dispersed in more dense or less dense tissues?

Answer 40

more dense tissues

Question 41

What are the 5 components of bullet wound analysis?

Answer 41

1. description of wounds 2. direction of fire 3. estimation of caliber 4. number of wounds 5. sequence of wounds

Question 42

How can an entrance wound be identified?

Answer 42

creates cone-shaped defect (internal beveling)

Question 43

How can an exit wound be identified?

Answer 43

reverse cone from entrance wound such that beveling is now on external surface

Question 44

How is direction of force determiend?

Answer 44

determined from the spatial (straight-line) relationship of entrance and exit wounds

Question 45

What are the three dimensions of direction of force?

Answer 45

1. anterior to posterior 2. right to left 3. superior to inferior

Question 46

What causes a keyhole defect?

Answer 46

when bullet enters, it enters at an angle such that it chips a thin piece of bone opposite to the side it enters

Question 47

Why is caliber estimation so unreliable?

Answer 47

bone defects can be elastic, bullets may deform, thickness of bone can effect deformation, pre-existing fracture lines and sutures can cause entrance wounds to be smaller

Question 48

Chemical trauma

Answer 48

death by slow poisoning such that it leaves traces in the bone (poison contains elements that bone mistakes for normal material)

Question 49

What are the 4 changes fire can cause to bone?

Answer 49

fracturing, coloration, changes in chemical composition, and deterioration

Question 50

What are the 5 elements of thermal trauma?

Answer 50

1. white heat line 2. heat border 3. charring 4. delamination 5. curved transverse fracture

Question 51

What does a curved trans verse fracture indicate?

Answer 51

direction of burning