On the evidential value of a Messerer fracture sustained in a car-pedestrian traffic accident

A pedestrian was killed in a road traffic accident by collision with a car coming from the right. The victim’s right femur was observed to have sustained a wedge-shaped fracture with biconcave side edges (so-called Messerer fracture), with the apex of the wedge pointing in the direction opposite to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of legal medicine 2016-11, Vol.130 (6), p.1593-1597
Main Authors: Schmidt, Sven, Schulz, Ronald, Pfeiffer, Heidi, Schmeling, Andreas, Geserick, Gunther
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents, Traffic
Aged
Autopsies
Bones
Case Report
Case reports
Fatalities
Female
Femoral Fractures - etiology
Femoral Fractures - pathology
Forensic Medicine
Fractures
Humans
Knee
Medical Law
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Multiple Trauma - etiology
Multiple Trauma - pathology
Pedestrians
Traffic
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Summary:A pedestrian was killed in a road traffic accident by collision with a car coming from the right. The victim’s right femur was observed to have sustained a wedge-shaped fracture with biconcave side edges (so-called Messerer fracture), with the apex of the wedge pointing in the direction opposite to the direction of travel of the car. The absence of skin or soft tissue injuries in the area of the fracture means that it is reasonable to assume that this ‘reverse wedge fracture’ is an indirect fracture. The mechanism by which characteristic wedge-shaped fractures are produced through compression along the longitudinal axis of the bone has long been known. When reconstructing the direction of travel of a car involved in a collision with a pedestrian, forensic pathologists should therefore be cautious of assessing Messerer fractures in isolation.
ISSN:0937-9827
1437-1596
DOI:10.1007/s00414-016-1437-x