PMID- 9670477
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19980804
LR  - 20190831
IS  - 0379-0738 (Print)
IS  - 0379-0738 (Linking)
VI  - 94
IP  - 1-2
DP  - 1998 Jun 8
TI  - Evidence for an antemortem injury of a burned head dissected from a burned body.
PG  - 9-14
AB  - A 41-year-old woman was killed following blows to the head with a bat. Her body 
      was burned and her head was dissected with a saw and hidden in the soil. Although 
      the body was discovered within a few days of her death, the putrescent head was 
      not located until four months later. A fracture of the left temporal bone was 
      found in the head, which was partially charred. The confession of the murder 
      suspect was unreliable, and the police suggested that the cause of death may not 
      have been a head injury but asphyxia, and that the bone fracture to the head may 
      have been caused after its dissection. It was therefore necessary to determine 
      when the fracture was formed. The fracture line continued to the base of the 
      skull, indicating that it was not due to heat. Magnetic resonance computed 
      tomography (MR-CT) indicated the existence of a blood clot in the left mastoid 
      cells, across which the fracture line passed. Upon sectioning of the skull with a 
      saw, a dark red clot was located in the left mastoid cells, indicating that 
      bleeding had occurred before the body was set alight. It seemed most logical to 
      assume that the bone fracture was formed when the victim was alive, or before her 
      body was burned.
FAU - Iwase, H
AU  - Iwase H
AD  - Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
FAU - Yamada, Y
AU  - Yamada Y
FAU - Ootani, S
AU  - Ootani S
FAU - Sasaki, Y
AU  - Sasaki Y
FAU - Nagao, M
AU  - Nagao M
FAU - Iwadate, K
AU  - Iwadate K
FAU - Takatori, T
AU  - Takatori T
LA  - eng
PT  - Case Reports
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - Ireland
TA  - Forensic Sci Int
JT  - Forensic science international
JID - 7902034
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Burns/*etiology/pathology
MH  - Cause of Death
MH  - Cerebral Hemorrhage/*diagnosis/etiology
MH  - Female
MH  - Forensic Medicine
MH  - *Homicide
MH  - Humans
MH  - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
MH  - Skull Fractures/*diagnosis/etiology
MH  - Temporal Bone/diagnostic imaging/injuries/*pathology
MH  - Tomography, X-Ray Computed
EDAT- 1998/07/22 00:00
MHDA- 1998/07/22 00:01
CRDT- 1998/07/22 00:00
PHST- 1998/07/22 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1998/07/22 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1998/07/22 00:00 [entrez]
AID - S0379-0738(98)00055-3 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/s0379-0738(98)00055-3 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Forensic Sci Int. 1998 Jun 8;94(1-2):9-14. doi: 10.1016/s0379-0738(98)00055-3.