A case of fatal cervical discoligamentous hyperextension injury without fracture: Correlation of postmortem imaging and autopsy findings

Abstract We present a case of fatal cervical discoligamentous hyperextension injury without fracture. Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and postmortem magnetic resonance imaging (PMMRI) disclosed cervical instability and spinal cord injury in the absence of fracture, which was confirmed by autop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forensic science international 2013-02, Vol.225 (1), p.71-74
Main Authors: Okuda, Takahisa, Shiotani, Seiji, Hayakawa, Hideyuki, Kikuchi, Kazunori, Kobayashi, Tomoya, Ohno, Youkichi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Atherosclerosis
Autopsies
Blood clots
Cervical instability
Cervical spine
Cervical Vertebrae - injuries
Cervical Vertebrae - pathology
Correlation
Discoligamentous injury
Fatal
Forensic Pathology
Forensic sciences
Fracture mechanics
Fractures
Heart attacks
Hematoma - pathology
Humans
Hyperextension
Imaging
Injuries
Instability
Intervertebral Disc - injuries
Intervertebral Disc - pathology
Joint Dislocations - pathology
Legal medicine
Ligaments - injuries
Ligaments - pathology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical imaging
Multidetector Computed Tomography
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Pathology
Postmortem CT
Postmortem MRI
Spinal cord injuries
Spinal Cord Injuries - pathology
Spondylosis - pathology
Tomography
Vertebrae
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Summary:Abstract We present a case of fatal cervical discoligamentous hyperextension injury without fracture. Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and postmortem magnetic resonance imaging (PMMRI) disclosed cervical instability and spinal cord injury in the absence of fracture, which was confirmed by autopsy. Cervical discoligamentous injury without fracture may be unnoticeable on PMCT because signs of cervical misalignment change depending on the posture of the neck at the time of postmortem imaging. Because of its greater sensitivity for soft tissue injury, PMMRI is especially useful for detecting pathological changes in cases of death due to cervical discoligamentous injury. In this paper, findings on postmortem imaging for this injury are described in detail and correlated with findings on autopsy.
ISSN:0379-0738
1872-6283
DOI:10.1016/j.forsciint.2012.04.035