title: Virtopsy: CT and MR imaging of a fatal head injury caused by a hatchet: A case report.
abstract: Hatchet blows to the human skull often cause fatal injuries. We present a case of homicide by hatchet blow that underwent CT, MRI, and autopsy examination. Skull fragmentation, fracture lines, and brain injuries were demonstrated prior to autopsy. Many of the hatchet-specific characteristics (flaking, crushing, shattering, and fracture lines) described in literature were observed in the post-mortem imaging of this case.
authors.affiliation: University of Bern, Centre for Forensic Imaging and Virtopsy, Institute of Forensic Medicine, IRM, Buehlstrasse 20, CH 3012 Bern, Switzerland. Garyfalia.Ampanozi@irm.unibe.ch
authors.forename: Garyfalia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ampanozi
authors.forename: Thomas D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Ruder
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Preiss
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aschenbroich
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Germerott
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Filograna
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Thali
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000379:methods*; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000473:pathology*