Skull and Encephalic Injuries Caused by Beach Umbrellas: Case Reports and Review of Literature.
This study reports two unusual cases of skull-encephalic injuries in bathers that were caused by violent impacts with beach umbrellas. The first case concerned a 36-year-old man who, while lying on a sun bed, was struck on his left temple by a beach umbrella, which had been blown away by a gust of wind. The second case concerned a six-year-old child who was struck on the right temporal region while he was playing on the sand. Both subjects died. A review of the literature was carried out. Various skull and brain injuries caused by several objects were found, but no injuries caused by beach umbrellas were detected. There were only cases of injuries caused by normal umbrellas. These cases showed that several objects can be responsible for traumas causing skull and brain injuries, therefore forensic investigation must be supplemented by circumstantial data.
Department of Biotechnology and Legal Medicine, University of Palermo, Via del Vespro 129, Palermo, 90127, Italy.
Elvira
E
Ventura Spagnolo
Department of Biomedical Science and of Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, Gazzi, Messina, 98125, Italy.
Cristina
C
Mondello
Department of Neurosciences, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, Gazzi, 98125, Italy.
Luigi
L
Cardia
Universitary Hospital «G.Martino», Via Consolare Valeria, Gazzi, Messina, 98125, Italy.
Giuseppe
G
Cannavò
Department of Biomedical Science and of Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, Gazzi, Messina, 98125, Italy.
Giulio
G
Cardia
beach umbrella; computed tomography; encephalic injures; forensic science; knock on the head; uncommon accident