title: An autopsy case related to a terrorist attack using a ball-bearing bomb.
abstract: We encountered an autopsy case related to a terrorist attack using a ball-bearing bomb. The decedent was a 51-year-old male without significant medical histories. During dinner in a restaurant, the perpetrator suddenly exploded a ball-bearing bomb, the blast from which blew the victim off his chair. The victim was found to be unresponsive, and pronounced dead. X-ray photographs taken before autopsy revealed six spherical shadows. Three penetrating wounds in the head, one in the neck and chest, and two in the left upper arm were observed in vivo. Six projectiles recovered from the body were identified as ball-bearings, one of which traveled through the midbrain, diencephalon, and left temporal lobe. Although blast injuries and penetrating wounds are often combined in bomb attack victims, penetrating brain injury would be the cause of death in this case. Lethal injuries to major organs can thus occur even though the destructive force of a ball-bearing bomb is weak. X-ray films were informative for detecting the ball-bearings in this case, suggesting that autopsy imaging is essential in cases of terrorism victims.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Uchimaru Morioka, Iwate, Japan. mtakamiy@iwate-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takamiya
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Biwasaka
authors.forename: Hisae
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niitsu
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saigusa
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoki
mesh_terms: D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D054042:Bombs; D004867:Equipment Design; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D023481:Terrorism; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000473:pathology*