Pubblicazioni

Autori:

Balzo, Giovanna Del; Pelletti, Guido; Raniero, Dario; Farinelli, Alessia; Uberti, Andrea; Vermiglio, Elisa; Molteni, Gabriele; Nocini, Riccardo; Taus, Francesco; Eccher, Albino; Luchini, Claudio; Brunelli, Matteo; Gobbo, Stefano

Titolo:

Forensic value of soft tissue detachments from the hyoid bone in death due to strangulation asphyxia

Anno:

2025

Tipologia prodotto:

Articolo in Rivista

Tipologia ANVUR:

Articolo su rivista

Lingua:

Inglese

Referee:

No

Nome rivista:

ADVANCES IN CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE

ISSN Rivista:

1899-5276

N° Volume:

34

Numero o Fascicolo:

3

Intervallo pagine:

327-335

Parole chiave:

artifact; autopsy; detachment of soft tissue from hyoid bone; histology; strangulation

Breve descrizione dei contenuti:

Background: There are no unequivocal histopathological findings for the diagnosis of fatal asphyxia due to neck compression. From the observation of a series of asphyxiation cases, we noted, during microscopic analysis, a high frequency of "detachment" of soft tissues from the hyoid bone. This specifically refers to the presence of an optical space between the surface of the hyoid bone and soft tissues. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the detachment of soft tissues from the hyoid bone as specific histological evidence of death due to strangulation asphyxia. Material and methods: Ten blocks were taken from deaths due to external mechanical compression of the neck (strangulation asphyxia, group A), 22 blocks were taken from deaths for other causes without trauma to the neck (group B), and 38 blocks were obtained from living subjects that have undergone laryngectomies (group C). The presence/absence of detachments were compared between the 3 groups (A, B and C) using Fisher's exact test. Results: The detachment of soft tissues from the hyoid bone was observed in 5 cases (50%) in group A, 6 cases (27.2%) in group B, and 17 cases (44.3%) in group C. The sensitivity and specificity of the presence of the detachment in group A were 0.5 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.38-0.62) and 0.57 (95% CI: 0.45-0.69), respectively. The comparison between the 3 groups and the presence/absence of soft tissue detachment showed no statistically significant differences between the groups (p = 0.329), clarifying that soft tissue detachment is a nonspecific variable for all 3 situations. Conclusions: Detachment of soft tissues has poor value as a single element to favor the diagnosis of asphyxia due to violent compression of the neck and should be interpreted as an artifactual finding, unrelated to the neck injury or injury vitality.

Note:

Published online on April 29, 2024

Id prodotto:

139281

Handle IRIS:

11562/1125608

ultima modifica:

7 maggio 2025

Citazione bibliografica:

Balzo, Giovanna Del; Pelletti, Guido; Raniero, Dario; Farinelli, Alessia; Uberti, Andrea; Vermiglio, Elisa; Molteni, Gabriele; Nocini, Riccardo; Taus, Francesco; Eccher, Albino; Luchini, Claudio; Brunelli, Matteo; Gobbo, Stefano, Forensic value of soft tissue detachments from the hyoid bone in death due to strangulation asphyxia «ADVANCES IN CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE» , vol. 34 , n. 3 , 2025 , pp. 327-335

Consulta la scheda completa presente nel repository istituzionale della Ricerca di Ateneo