Osteonal Damage Patterns from Ballistic and Blunt Force Trauma in Human Long Bones
Sexton, Keira (Institut de Medicina Legal i Ciències Forenses de Catalunya)
Schwab, Nathalie (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Galtés, Ignasi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Casas, Anna (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Armentano Oller, Núria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Brillas, Pedro (Hospital Clínic i Provincial de Barcelona)
Garrido, Xavier (Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalunya). Unitat Central de Balística i Traces Instrumentals)
Jordana, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	Forensic anthropologists play a key role in skeletal trauma analysis and commonly use macroscopic features to distinguish between trauma types. However, this approach can be challenging, particularly in cases of highly comminuted or incompletely recovered fractures. Histological analysis of microscopic fracture characteristics in fractured bones may thus help provide additional information on trauma type and bone fracture biomechanics in general. This study analysed the extent of microcrack damage to osteons in long bones with blunt force trauma (BFT) and gunshot trauma (GST), from both traumatic death cases and post-mortem experimental fractures. We identified four types of osteonal damage (OD). In traumatic death cases, OD affecting the inside of the osteon and compromising the Haversian canal (type 1) was found to be indicative of BFT. Moreover, OD affecting the cement line (type 3) and interstitial lamellae (type 4) was more common in the GST samples. OD affecting the inside of the osteon without compromising the Haversian canal (type 2) was not found to be indicative of either trauma type. In cases of experimental fractures, our study revealed that post-mortem fractures in dry bone samples featured the highest amount of OD, particularly of type 4. This study also found that the experimentally produced GST featured similar OD patterns to GST death cases. These findings support our hypothesis that there are distinct osteonal damage patterns in human long bones with BFT and GST, which are of relevant value for trauma analysis in forensic anthropology.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2021-124112NB-I00
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Forensic anthropology ; Hard tissue biomechanics ; Trauma mechanisms ; Long bone fracture ; Gunshot trauma ; Blunt force trauma ; Bone histology ; Microcrack
Published in:	Life, Vol. 14, Num. 2 (February 2024) , art. 220, ISSN 2075-1729

DOI: 10.3390/life14020220
PMID: 38398729

14 p, 2.1 MB

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