Medico-Legal Study of Fatal Sharp Wound Injuries in Baghdad

number: 
2919
English
department: 
Degree: 
Imprint: 
Medicine
Author: 
Zaid Ali Abbass Al-Yousif
Supervisor: 
Dr. Mu’taz Abdul Majeed Al-Qazzaz
year: 
2012
Abstract:

Wounds caused by pointed and sharp-edged weapons (sharp wounds) can be divided into stab and puncture wounds, incised wounds (cuts) and chop wounds. A postmortem study was carried out on 51 sharp wound cases referred to the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad during 6 months period started from the first of January 2011 till the end of June 2011. The aims of this study were to estimate the percentage of sharp wound cases to both the total number of cases and the total number of violent deaths during the period of the study; in addition to study the sharp wound cases and sharp wounds according to other specific parameters. This study showed that sharp force injuries represent the 8th class of major injuries during the period of the study accounting about 3.28% The age group of most cases (66.67%) was between 15 and 45 years with a mean of 34.35 +4.8 years and a range of 10-70 years. The majority of cases were males with 3.25:1 sex ratio and there was no statistical correlation between gender and each type of sharp wounds. The scene of injury was equally distributed between indoor and outdoor scenes with small percent with unknown scene of injury. Most of the cases were located in Resafa side of Baghdad and the highest number of cases was during the February. The majority of cases died immediately, and prior to admission to hospitals, and most of the cases were with multiple injuries with a mean of 8.06 + 1.32 injuries per case. The commonest type of sharp wounds was stab wounds, and single sharp edge type was the commonest type of stab wounds. The majority of sharp wounds were vital wounds, and the mean width of vital stab wounds was wider than the mean width of non-vital stab wounds. Neck was the most common anatomical region affected by sharp force injuries, and the great blood vessels were the commonest vital organ affected. Homicidal manner of death was found in all studied cases, and defense wounds were seen only in 13.7% of all victims.And finally, there was a minor role of natural diseases and alcohol in sharp force fatalities as shown by this study.