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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.
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, Universita 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
ET AL.
PECHNIKOVA
1141
1142
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).
the
lamellae
(straight
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
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
1143
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
Energy
Low
Low
High
Mechanism
Total
osteons
Pattern
A
Pattern
B
Pattern
A%
Pattern
B%
38
80
45
17
35
32
21
45
13
44.95
45.2
74.01
55.05
54.8
25.99
1144
TABLE 4The results (p values) of chi-square analysis for all tested combinations.
Combinations of Tested Strains
p-value
0.0084
0.92
0.015
0.003
ET AL.
PECHNIKOVA
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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
Universita degli Studi di Milano
V. Mangiagalli 37
Milan
Italy
E-mail: cristina.cattaneo@unimi.it