title: Reconstruction of devastating head injuries: a useful method in forensic pathology.
abstract: Crushing head injuries usually do not allow direct visual identification of individuals, and above all, it constitutes an obstacle to comprehensive evaluation of discrete traumatic changes of the skin and soft tissues. We present our experience with the plastic adaptation of devastating head injuries in the two exemplary cases. The principal of the reconstruction is manual repositioning of bone fragments of the cranial and facial parts of the skull and careful approximation of the wound edges and their gradual suture using suture material. The reconstruction method can be recommended as an auxiliary technique in the identification of unknown victims with crushing head injuries and in the evaluation of devastating gunshot wound of the head.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Institute of Legal Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Šimkova 870, 500 01 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. hejnap@lfhk.cuni.cz
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hejna
authors.forename: Miroslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Safr
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zátopková
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000473:pathology*; D005147:Facial Bones / Q000473:pathology; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000473:pathology; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D020197:Head Injuries, Penetrating / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012886:Skull / Q000473:pathology; D013405:Suicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013536:Suture Techniques; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult