The missing link. An unusual case of embolization.
Embolization is a well-recognized phenomenon in medicine and forensic pathology and generally involves formed blood elements, bone, air, amniotic fluid, or more exotic items such as bullets. We report the embolization of a chain-saw link. The case demonstrates how, without complete autopsy and investigation, a penetrating sharp-force injury could be misdiagnosed and a false conclusion as to the commission of a crime could occur. Although the forensic literature is replete with examples of bizarre emboli, from bullets to suspected crystals of methylmethacrylate, a literature review failed to find a single case of penetrating chain-saw-link injury as a cause of traumatic death. Most reports of chain-saw incidents cite accidental injuries to hands and arms or dramatic facial injuries due to entrapment and recoil (1,2). One fatality occurred from a skull fracture and cerebral injury when a 19-year-old man fell onto a saw.
Choi
C S
CS
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City 73117.
Jordan
F B
FB
Balding
L E
LE
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000293:injuries; D004617:Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005263:Femoral Artery; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000473:pathology*