PAPER

J Forensic Sci, September 2015, Vol. 60, No. 5

doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.12818
Available online at: onlinelibrary.wiley.com

ANTHROPOLOGY
Marketa Pechnkov
a,1,2 M.Sc., Ph.D.; Debora Mazzarelli,1 M.A.; Pasquale Poppa,1 B.Sc., Ph.D.;
Daniele Gibelli,1 M.D., Ph.D.; Emilio Scossa Baggi,3 Ph.D.; and Cristina Cattaneo,1 M.D., B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D.

Microscopic Pattern of Bone Fractures as an

Indicator of Blast Trauma: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT: The assessment of fractures is a key issue in forensic anthropology; however, very few studies deal with the features of frac-

tures due to explosion in comparison with other traumatic injuries. This study focuses on fractures resulting from blast trauma and two types of
blunt force trauma (manual compression and running over), applied to corpses of pigs; 163 osteons were examined within forty fractures by the
transmission light microscopy. Blast lesions showed a higher percentage of fracture lines through the Haversian canal, whereas in other types
of trauma, the fractures went across the inner lamellae. Significant differences between samples hit by blast energy and those runover or manually compressed were observed (p < 0.05). The frequency of pattern A is significantly higher in exploded bones than in runover and compressed. Microscopic analysis of the fracture line may provide information about the type of trauma, especially for what concerns blast trauma.

KEYWORDS: forensic science, forensic anthropology, bone trauma, fracture morphology, osteons, blast trauma
The study of trauma is a crucial topic for forensic anthropology. Skeletal trauma is predominantly represented by fractures,
but the mechanism of fracture production as well as the criteria
useful for inferring dynamics from a fracture is not yet well
understood. In addition, a comprehensive description of specific
characteristics of bone injuries caused by various types of forces
would be very useful in reconstructing type of trauma, but a
detailed analysis of macroscopic and microscopic presentations
of fractures is still lacking.
Several studies already exist concerning fracture characteristics
(16) and morphology of fractures produced by blunt trauma.
Powell et al. (7), for example, studied trauma on porcine crania
inflicted by single blunt impact, Croft and Ferllini (8) tried to
determine whether the trauma inflicted by two different screwdrivers could be macroscopically assessed, and Hart (9) observed
whether ballistic and blunt force trauma could be diagnosed by
the beveling direction of concentric fractures. Nevertheless, the
studies describing the macroscopic morphology of fractures
caused by different energies and loading rates are still incomplete.
Some studies of fractures at a microscopic level have already
been performed, but they mainly focused on mechanical properties of bone tissue and its resistance (1013). Several studies
also appeared which examined the microscopic structure of
bone and the role of structural components in the fracture
1
LABANOF, Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione
di Medicina Legale, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Universit
a degli Studi di Milano, V. Mangiagalli 37, Milano, Italy.
2
Laboratory of Biological and Molecular Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Institute of Experimental Biology, Masaryk University, Brno 60200,
Czech Republic.
3
Polizia Scientifica Canton Ticino, Viale Franscini 3, 6500, Bellinzona
(CH), Switzerland.
Received 18 Nov. 2013; and in revised form 20 June 2014; accepted 2
Sept. 2014.

1140

process (1416); closer attention was paid especially to cement

lines, sometimes assessed as a region which facilitates the
propagation of fractures (1721). The only observation of a
relationship between fracture lines and secondary osteons (hereafter only osteon) was observed by a Japanese group (22)
who performed sagittal splitting of the human mandible to
observe the most effective direction for bone chiseling during
osteotomy.
The observation of fracture line direction in fresh and dry
bones was also the topic of a previous study (23), where the
authors inflicted blunt force trauma on fresh and dry long bones
and observed the fracture pattern at a microscopic level. The aim
was to ascertain whether there exists some difference in fracture
propagation in fresh and dry bones. The examination of the
propagation of the fracture line and its relation with secondary
osteons gave similar results in both fresh and dry specimens,
and so an initial hypothesis concerning different propagation
was disclaimed. There seemed to be no possibility to distinguish
fractures which had occurred perimortem on fresh bone from
those which appeared postmortem on dry ones by studying the
course of the fracture line.
However, the study of Piekarski (24) pointed out that the
propagation of the fracture line depends rather upon the velocity
of trauma processing than on the elasticity of bone structure. In
this work, Piekarski (page 223) concluded that bone is a tough
material at slow strain rates and fractures more like a brittle
material at high strain rates. According to his investigation a
crack propagates at slow rates by following weak interfaces of
Haversian lamellae or through interstitial bone, at high strain
rates fracture propagates indiscriminately through all micro
constituents. It seems that there should be a difference in the
course of a fracture line and its relation to the Haversian systems
in fractures caused by high or slow strain rates, and this may
be useful for distinguishing among lesions due to high- and
2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences

 ET AL.
PECHNIKOVA

low-velocity trauma. This has a relevant practical importance,

because in certain conditions, skeletal remains are found with
multiple fractures, and it is not easy to verify what kind of accident occurred.
A typical example of high-velocity lesion is blast trauma
which causes a complex pattern of bone lesions by a sudden
pressure change and spreading of shrapnel which acts as small
projectiles (25). Very little information is available concerning
the mechanism of production of blast lesions: Christensen et al.
in 2012 published the first experimental study performed on
pigs in four separate series of tests at different distance and
type of explosive (25). Results showed that the severity of
skeletal trauma was found to be directly related to the amount
of explosive and its proximity to the specimen. Fractures usually showed mixed characteristics of compression, shearing, and
bending, which appear more random than those due to projectile or blunt trauma. In addition, long bones, scapulae, and os
coxae showed extensive comminuted fractures with small bone
fragments, whereas the head, neck, and shaft of ribs were
affected by transverse and oblique lesions. The inclusion of
shrapnel within the explosive showed an even greater fracture
severity (25). The authors stated that the pattern of fractures
due to blast trauma appears distinct from other types of skeletal
trauma in quality and extent, although no comparison is performed with fractures experimentally produced by other manners of lesion: A more recent article by the same authors
focused on the high prevalence in blast lesions of butterfly
fractures in ribs (26). The authors observed that butterfly fractures in these cases began on the visceral surface, on the opposite side than expected in compressive trauma (26). This
pattern was observed in 100% of rib lesions due to blast
trauma and proved that the fractures caused by this specific
modality are due to an extending process of the rib curve. The
same pattern was observed in 93% of ribs manually bent to
reproduce the same tensile action. Although the exact mechanism of production of such a fracture profile is unclear, this
article proved once again that from a macroscopic point of
view, blast trauma and compression can be distinguished.
Although the previously cited articles provide relevant data for
what concerns the diagnosis between high- and low-velocity
trauma, all the available information is based on a mere macroscopic analysis and no microscopic test was performed on the
specimens, especially for what concerns the interaction with the
osteons and Haversian lamellae.
This article aims at performing a microscopic analysis of
fractures due to blast trauma in order to extrapolate more information concerning the differences between high-impulse and
low-impulse trauma, useful in the forensic practice. The study of
Piekarski (24) proves to be essential in fracture analysis at a
microscopic level. This project tried to verify his hypothesis, in
other words ascertaining whether the cracks due to high- and
low-impulse trauma propagate in a different way and whether
some differences in the course of the fracture line in fresh bone,
broken in different manners, can be appreciated.
Material and Methods
The study was performed using pigs. This specific animal
model was chosen for the characteristics of the experiments,
which simulate the real forensic scenario and do not allow the
use of human remains. The porcine model was used because
bone density and mechanical testing proved pig bone structure
to closely approximate human bones (27). In addition, pig bones

MICROSCOPIC PATTERN OF BONE TRAUMA

1141

have proven to be good models also for human trauma analysis

(28,29).
Corpses of five adult pigs with a weight between 60 and
80 kg were used to reproduce human bodies; in addition, the
limbs of the fifth pig containing long bones were also used. The
pigs all came from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the
University of Milan and had died from causes independent from
this study. Each pig was frozen at 24C for a maximum of
1 week, and carcasses were allowed to thaw at room temperature
before their use.
The mechanisms of trauma characterized by different velocity
of loading (high and low) were applied to produce the bone
trauma. In detail, blast trauma was chosen as an example of high
velocity, and the compression by a vehicle and a vice as two
low-velocity types, with a different amount of energy (higher in
the compression by vehicle than by the vice).
Two of the pig carcasses were attached to a vertical rod in an
open space within a military camp near Isone (Bellinzona, Switzerland) with a belt full of 600 g of military plastic explosive
(2000 g of gelatine A, detonation velocity: 8000 m/s, explosivity
relative effectiveness factor: 1.34). Each pig wore a belt of
explosives and was subjected to an explosion and the pieces collected. Other two pigs were closed into a plastic bag, placed in a
concrete parking area, and run over several times by a vehicle
(Citroen C3, 1.4, 90 cv diesel) with speed between 10 and
20 km/h when the fractures occurred. Intentional use of very
low speed in the test caused predominantly fractures of the cranium and of the axial skeleton (ribs, vertebrae, and pelvis),
whereas the long bones remained intact. For this reason, as a
third manner of fracturing, slow compression was added. The
entire limbs of the fifth pig were separated from the body by a
knife at the region of the shoulder and hip. They were placed
through a vice and slowly compressed along their long axis until
they fractured.
Then an autopsy of the pigs was performed to examine the
long bone fractures. Long bones were chosen for the analysis
because they are well known from a histological point of view.
The broken bones were then macerated and cleaned from soft
tissues manually. The delimited and well-defined margins of
complete fractures were chosen for the analysis. A total of 40
long bone fractures were studied macroscopically and then with
a stereomicroscope (Wild Heerbrugg M650) (using a Eurokam
3.0. camera with BEL View software for the possibility of comfortable and a more precise classification of each fracture characteristic).
Various fracture characteristics such as fracture type, outline,
shape of ends, fracture angle, surface morphology and presence
of additional fracture lines were observed and classified according to the classification system summarized by Wieberg and
Wescott (2) . The classification of fracture angle was the only
difficult subjective issue because in some rare instances, the
morphology of the fracture did not correspond only to one specific stage, thus a combination of stages was adopted.
After macroscopic observation, small pieces bordering the
fractures were sampled, mounted perpendicularly to the fracture
surface on a glass slide with Pertex and ground and polished on
a Struers DAP-7 lapping machine (grades 320, 600, 1200, 2400,
and 4000) to create a thin undecalcified section (150 lm) for
light microscopy.
The microscopic examination of fracture lines in relation to
the secondary osteons was performed according to the technique
already used in a previous study (23). Two different patterns
were distinguished during the observation of the exposed animal

1142

JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES

FIG. 3Fracture line running around inner lamella (lower line = break
and upper arched line = cement line).
FIG. 1Fracture going through the central canal (straight line = break
and arched line = cement line).

FIG. 2Fracture passing straight through

line = break and arched line = cement line).

the

lamellae

(straight

bone tissue, composed partly of osteonal bone tissue and partly

of the plexiform one. The course of a fracture line going through
the central canal (Fig. 1) or through the lamellae (Fig. 2) was
called pattern A, whereas cracks traveling around the inner
lamellae (Fig. 3) or along the cement line (Fig. 4), pattern B.
Although the mixed composition of porcine bone did not allow
the operators to perform the examination of all prepared samples, a number of well-readable fracture lines for the analysis
were still found10 lines created by blast trauma and 18 produced by the two blunt force modalities.
The microscopic examination of these fracture lines thus gave
45 observable osteons for blast trauma and 118 osteons for the
compression modalities. The operators therefore set out to verify
the frequency of pattern A and pattern B in fractures made with
different velocity; the independent two-sample t-test and the chisquare analysis were used for basic statistical analysis.

FIG. 4The disruption in the area of the cement line (lower line = break
and circular line = cement line).

Results
The explosion led to severe fragmentation of the two pigs,
with predominant fractures the bones of the upper part of the
pigs bodies; thus, the fractures of the foreleg were studied.
After running over with a car, only two metatarsal bones of the
first pig were fractured, all other long bones were resistant to the
slow manner of breaking even if it was repeated several times.
On the other hand, limbs manually compressed using a metal
vice allowed the operators to study fractures of all types of long
bones except for the ulna which was never broken.
The macroscopic observation of fracture morphology, performed before all other tests, gave very variable results for high

 ET AL.
PECHNIKOVA

impulse as well as for low-impulse fracture mechanisms

(Table 1). The prevalent fracture type was comminuted, which
occurred in all samples with similar frequency; complete fractures were found only in some of compressed samples, whereas
fissured fractures were noted only in some exploded ones. Both
complete and fissured fracture types had a much lower incidence
than the comminuted ones. The outline was the most variable
characteristic. All types of outlines were observed in high- as
well as low-velocity fracture mechanisms, but for the transverse
one which was represented only when blast trauma was applied.
The shapes of the ends were dependent on fracture outlines,
so they again varied between both high- and low-velocity mechanisms; in high-velocity trauma, the variation was even greater.
Some differences in distribution of different forms of fracture
angles were noted between blast trauma and compressions:
There was a great variability in high-velocity trauma, but in the
low-velocity mechanisms, great uniformity was found. Similarly,
the surface morphology was more uniform in low-velocity mechanism, whereas when applying high-velocity mechanism, all the
possible forms were detected. Additional fracture lines were
noticed in all three fracture mechanisms.
The results show that when the fracture is produced at a fast
rate, the resulting fracture could have various features, and all
types of characteristics were usually found. The fractures resulting from slow rate mechanism seem to be more uniform, but the
most frequently occurring characteristics were the same as those
prevailing in the fast rate. No relationship between cause and
frequency in any of the resulting patterns was found; in other
words, there was no rule for fracture formation. It seems that on
the basis of macroscopic fracture morphology, there is no possibility in this case to distinguish fractures produced by blast
(high-velocity mechanism) from those produced from blunt
trauma (low-velocity mechanism).
The microscopic examination of the fracture pattern of a total
of 163 osteons along the fracture lines gave interesting results.

Mark
Fracture
type
Outline

End shape

Fracture
angle

Surface

Additional
lines

Character

Explosion %

Compression %

Runover %

Comminuted
Complete
Fissured
Helical
Diagonal
Transverse
Longitudinal
Irregular
Curved
Curved + step
V shaped
Columnar
Transverse
Right
Acute
Obtuse
Acute/obtuse
Acute/right
Obtuse/right
Rough
Smooth
Rough/smooth
Rough/interm
Smooth/interm
Present
Absent

71.4
0
28.6
14.3
19
9.5
33.3
23.8
23.1
0
30.8
38.5
7.7
33.3
6.7
6.7
0
40
13.3
13.3
6.7
33.3
33.3
13.3
100
0

75
25
0
43.8
6.3
0
31.3
18.8
36.4
36.4
27.3
0
0
0
0
0
93.8
6.3
0
6.3
43.8
50
0
0
81.3
18.8

100
0
0
0
0
0
50
50
0
0
100
0
0
0
50
50
0
0
0
50
0
50
0
0
100
0

MICROSCOPIC PATTERN OF BONE TRAUMA

1143

The frequencies of pattern A and pattern B for each bone are

listed in Table 2, and the average frequencies of pattern A and
B for each type of the fracture mechanism are summarized in
Table 3.
The fracture line of run-over bone samples traveled around
the Haversian structure (pattern B, 55% cases on average), rather
than passing straight through the osteons (pattern A, 45% on
average). Almost the same values were found in specimens compressed by the vice, where pattern B again slightly predominated
(54.8% on average) above the pattern A (45.2% on average).
Statistical analysis (t-test) confirmed that there is no statistically
significant difference of frequencies of pattern A between lowvelocity modalities of trauma compression during running over
and compression with a vice (t = 0.157, p < 0.05). In addition,
results seem to suggest that the microscopic profile of fractures
does depend upon the energy content of the trauma, because
there are no appreciable differences between the two types of
compression.
The observation of fractures produced by the explosion gave a
different model. The fracture line crossed through the osteon
(pattern A) much more often (on average in 74% cases) than it
respected its structure (pattern B, 26% on average). A statistically significant difference was found between frequency of pattern A in exploded and run-over samples (t9 = 3.379, p < 0.05)
as well as between exploded and compressed bones (t19 = 4.184,
p < 0.05).
A chi-square test in contingency tables was also used to verify
the relative frequency of pattern A and its relation with the type
of trauma. The null hypothesis was that the frequency of pattern
A and pattern B does not depend on the type of trauma. According to counted p values, shown in Table 4, the null hypothesis
TABLE 2Numbers of observed osteons and relation to course of fracture
line (R: right; L: left).

Pig
TABLE 1Frequency of individual fracture characteristics (in %) for all
classified marks.

Car 1
Car 1
Expl A
Expl A
Expl A
Expl A
Expl B
Expl B
Expl B
Compr
Compr
Compr
Compr
Compr
Compr
Compr
Compr
Compr

Bone

Side

Total
osteons

Pattern
A

Pattern
B

Pattern
A%

Pattern
B%

Metatarsal
Metatarsal
Humerus
Ulna
Ulna
Radius
Humerus
Humerus
Radius
Humerus
Humerus
Radius
Radius
Femur
Femur
Tibia
Tibia
Fibula

R
L
R
R
L
R
R
L
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R

11
27
3
3
7
13
5
10
4
6
11
11
9
11
10
4
14
4

5
12
2
3
4
9
4
7
3
3
5
3
5
5
4
2
6
2

6
15
1
0
3
4
1
3
1
3
6
8
4
6
6
2
8
2

45.5
44.4
66.7
100.0
57.1
69.2
80.0
70.0
75.0
50.0
45.5
27.3
55.6
45.5
40.0
50.0
42.9
50.0

54.5
55.6
33.3
0.0
42.9
30.8
20.0
30.0
25.0
50.0
54.5
72.7
44.4
54.5
60.0
50.0
57.1
50.0

TABLE 3Average frequencies of pattern A and B for each mechanism of

fracture processing in bold the most prevent pattern.

Energy
Low
Low
High

Mechanism

Total
osteons

Pattern
A

Pattern
B

Pattern
A%

Pattern
B%

Car run over

Compression
Explosion

38
80
45

17
35
32

21
45
13

44.95
45.2
74.01

55.05
54.8
25.99

1144

JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES

TABLE 4The results (p values) of chi-square analysis for all tested combinations.
Combinations of Tested Strains

p-value

Explosion, runover, compression

Runover, compression
Runover, explosion
Explosion, compression

0.0084
0.92
0.015
0.003

that the occurrence of pattern A (or B) is independent (p

value = 0.0084) between three fracture types (runover, compression, and explosion) as well as between runover and explosion
(p value = 0.015) or between compression and explosion (p
value = 0.003) was rejected. Conversely, the hypothesis that the
frequency of pattern A (or B) is independent between runover
and compression (p value = 0.92) was not rejected. The
frequency of pattern A therefore was significantly higher (and
frequency of pattern B significantly lower) in explosion than in
runover and the compression instance.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to observe macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of fractures produced by high- and lowimpulse mechanisms in order to find some differences in fracture
patterns applicable in the differential diagnosis of bone trauma.
Blast trauma was chosen for its high velocity and facility to
produce fractures of long bones: As a comparison, two types
of compression were chosen as examples of slow rate trauma,
with a different energy content (higher in compression by
vehicle).
The macroscopic observation of fractures showed great variability in their morphology. The exploded samples gave a wide
variation in type of outline, fracture angle, or surface morphology. A similar diversity was, however, observed also in the slow
manner of fracture processingespecially in compression. As
the same characteristics were found, with a mixed frequency, in
high velocity as well as in low-velocity mechanisms, differentiation between fast and slow manner of fracture production was
impossible. Powell et al. (7), who studied fracture patterns on
the porcine skulls inflicted by single blunt impact, reveal only
that a rigid interface produces more fractures than a compliant
one when the same high rate impact is used. Croft and Ferllini
(8) performed experimental research on macroscopic characteristics of puncture wounds and fractures caused by two kinds of
screwdrivers. They found that the trauma could be macroscopically differentiated if studying the macroscopic appearance in
tandem. The analysis of some differences between ballistic and
blunt force fractures, performed by Hart (9), showed that it is
possible to determine the mechanism of trauma by the beveling
direction of concentric fractures. It seems that observation of
macroscopic characteristics could help in extrapolating the mechanism of fracture formation only if some circumstances are
already known.
The present results provide interesting information, especially
for what concerns the specificity of blast trauma which, according to previous literature, differs in quality and extent from
lesions due to other fracture mechanisms; however, this evaluation was based on general appearance and distribution of fractures: If one considers the general features of fractures, no
appreciable difference is usually observed between high- and
low-impulse trauma. This may have relevant repercussions in the

forensic practice, because, as also pointed out by Christensen

et al. (25), the diagnosis of blast trauma requires a careful interpretation of the injury distribution over the entire skeleton and
the main differential features in comparison with other types of
trauma consist in fracture number and distribution; however,
bodies affected by blast lesions are often dismembered and a
complete recovery and survey of the skeleton is not always possible. In this case, the analysis of isolated fractures shows a substantial superimposition of morphological characteristics shared
also by all dynamics of lesions.
At the microscopic level, the study of Piekarski (24) proves to
be essential. For that reason, this project tried to verify his
hypothesis, and in detail, whether the cracks due to high- and
low-impulse trauma propagate differentially and whether there
are differences in the course of fracture lines in fresh bone broken indifferent manners.
The results showed the same pattern in the course of fracture
lines in bones compressed by the car and the vice. The crack
propagated with similar frequency through (pattern A) and
around (pattern B) the osteon structure with slight prevalence of
pattern B (45% vs. 55%). In addition, the two chosen modalities
of compression do not show a significant difference, and this
suggests that the behavior of fracture lines within a bone structure depends on the loading velocity rather than on the amount
of energy. In contrast, the difference between frequency of pattern A and B was much more evident in exploded samples (74%
vs. 26%) where pattern A significantly predominated.
Results of the present study confirm Piekarskis statement that
a crack propagates differentially at high compared to slow rates
(24), as in high rates, it goes rather indiscriminately through all
microstructures, while in slow rates, it respects osteon structure
in more than 50% cases. Secondarily, association of these results
with the conclusions of our previous study indicates that the
course of fracture lines depends rather on the velocity of the
fracturing mechanism than on bone elasticity and freshness. This
provides an additional tool for differential diagnosis of blast
trauma, which may add to the general survey of number and distribution of lesions.
Conclusions
The macroscopic observation of fracture morphology does not
bring sufficient information for a differential diagnosis between
different types of bone trauma, predominantly due to the extreme
variability of the fracture pattern, especially in exploded samples.
Microscopic analysis indicated that the fracture lines propagate
through osteons differentially at high compared to low-impulse
mechanisms. Microscopic observations of fractures on a basic
microstructural level may bring important information concerning the type of trauma, especially its velocity.
Although the present results are only preliminary, this study
does seem to indicate that microscopic analysis of osteon pattern
of breakage may be important in distinguishing blast trauma
from low-velocity modalities of trauma.
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Additional information and reprint requests:
Prof. Cristina Cattaneo, M.D., B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D.
LABANOF, Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense
Sezione di Medicina Legale
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute
Universit
a degli Studi di Milano
V. Mangiagalli 37
Milan
Italy
E-mail: cristina.cattaneo@unimi.it