Analysis of Injuries over Neck and its Association with Ligature Mark in Hanging and Strangulation

Authors

  • Sheeba Shabbir Department of Forensic Medicine, HBS Medical College, Islamabad
  • Hidayat ur Rehman Department of Forensic Medicine, Muhammad Medical College, Peshawar
  • Dure shehwar Department of Forensic Medicine, Islamabad Medical and Dental College, Islamabad
  • Muhammad Arif Department of Forensic Medicine, IIMC, Rawalpindi
  • Tasneem Murad Department of Forensic Medicine, IIMC, Rawalpindi
  • Riffat Masood Department of Forensic Medicine, Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad

Keywords:

ligature mark, hanging, ligature strangulation, dissolution of skin, wrinkling

Abstract

Objective: To study gross and microscopic patterns of ligature mark in antemortem and postmortem hanging and strangulation.

Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in Federal Government Services Hospital Islamabad. 106 cases of asphyxia death were analyzed. The victims age, sex, socioeconomic status, site of incident was noted and analyzed by using SPSS 20. These cases were studied in detail by review of history, police papers and postmortem findings etc. Other parameters such as manner of death, ligature mark its level of constriction, number of rounds, position, type of material and internal appearance was also noted.

Results: The site and position of ligature is significant in typical cases of hanging and strangulation. Microscopic examination of ligature mark in hanging (n=41) showed discontinuity, breaking, wrinkling and compression of the skin (dermal and epidermal layers) along with micro hemorrhages and inflammatory changes in subcutaneous tissues. Underlying soft tissues beneath the ligature mark on the neck were glistening white in appearance in all cases of hanging while it showed extravasations of blood in all ligature strangulation cases (n=44).

Conclusion: It was concluded that the ligature mark needed to be evaluated along with other external features, internal findings and histopathological features. Histopathological examination of the ligature mark gives significant information that can be very helpful in diagnosing deaths due to ligature strangulation or hanging. The correlation of external, internal and microscopic findings may be helpful in diagnosing

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Published

2020-02-04

Issue

Volume.17, Issue-3 (Jul-Sep 2019)

Section

Original article

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Sheeba Shabbir; Hidayat ur Rehman, Dure shehwar, Muhammad Arif, Tasneem Murad, Riffat Masood

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Readers may “Share-copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format” and “Adapt-remix, transform, and build upon the material”. The readers must give appropriate credit to the source of the material and indicate if changes were made to the material. Readers may not use the material for commercial purpose. The readers may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

How to Cite

1.
Shabbir S. Analysis of Injuries over Neck and its Association with Ligature Mark in Hanging and Strangulation. Int J Pathol [Internet]. 2020 Feb. 4 [cited 2024 Apr. 25];17(3):132-6. Available from: https://jpathology.com/index.php/OJS/article/view/474

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