External Beveling of Cranial Gunshot Entrance Wounds

Peterson, Brian L.

doi:10.1520/jfs13181j

Cited by 38 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This could be particularly important when external beveling or overlying skin indicators are absent (decomposition of the body, animal or insect damage, incineration, etc.) or when external beveling is present also at the site of entry [20][21][22][23][24].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersecting fractures of the skull and gunshot wounds. Case report and literature review

Viel

Gehl

Sperhake

2008

Forensic Sci Med Pathol

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When two fracture lines of a solid surface (ice, glass, eggshell, etc.) intersect, it is always possible to tell which one has been made first. Indeed pre-existing damage of the surface arrests all the fracture lines produced by subsequent impacts. This well-known principle (established by Puppe in 1903) has been largely used in glass fracture analysis, but can be applied also to the examination of skull fractures. It can help sequencing blunt force or gunshot injuries determining the direction of fire and differentiating entrance from exit wounds in the absence of specific distinguishing features (i.e., internal/external beveling of the skull or overlying skin indicators). In this context, we report the case of a 76-year-old man who shot himself in the mouth with a Walther PPK 7.65 handgun and highlight the utility of the application of both Puppe's Rule and Multislice Computed Tomography (MSCT) in the examination of gunshot wounds to the skull.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersecting fractures of the skull and gunshot wounds. Case report and literature review

Viel

Gehl

Sperhake

2008

Forensic Sci Med Pathol

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“…Such external beveling may be partially or completely circumferential [1,2]. In the present case, police investigators misinterpreted a heat-induced post-mortem defect of the calvarium as a gunshot exit wound.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Cratering of the external table of flat bones such as the calvarium (''external beveling'') is a well-known phenomenon of gunshot exit wounds [1][2][3]. Such external beveling may be partially or completely circumferential [1,2].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat-induced post-mortem defect of the skull simulating an exit gunshot wound of the calvarium

Tsokos

2011

Forensic Sci Med Pathol

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Case reportA severely burned body was found in a burnt-out apartment following a house fire. At the death scene, police investigators noted a defect at the back of the head of the deceased. This defect perforated the occipital bone and showed external bevelling. To clarify whether this skull wound corresponded to a gunshot exit wound and for identification purposes, a medico-legal autopsy was ordered.External examination of the body showed intense charring with skin burned away and musculature exposed, fourth degree burns of the remaining skin and heat flexures of the limbs as well as heat-related rupture of both the abdominal cavity and chest wall (Fig. 1). An oval defect of the occipital bone with cratering of the external table of the cranium was found (Fig. 2). The defect measured 2 cm in diameter, was sharp-edged and the excavation of the outer table of the cranium showed no charring in contrast to the surrounding parts of the occipital bone (Fig. 3). Apart from this finding, radiology of the body before autopsy was unremarkable. At autopsy, gross sections of the mucosa of the trachea and main bronchi were covered by a thick layer of soot with soot particles also present within the esophageus and the stomach. The brain showed a reduced volume, flattening of gyri and obliteration of sulci but no signs of trauma. Except for the defect of the occipital bone, no other signs of ante-mortem or post-mortem trauma could be detected. The level of carboxyhemoglobin in heart blood was 65% and the blood alcohol level was 285 mg/dL. Fig. 2 Oval defect of the occipital bone with cratering of the external table of the cranium (''external beveling'') M. Tsokos (

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“…However, in low-speed (less than 600 m/s) incidents, cranial cracks are sometimes observed radiating from localized bullet wounds (typically only entrance wounds) [3]. Entrance wounds are generally characterized by internal beveling [20], although external beveling has been reported [10,16]. External beveling is common in exit wounds [20], for which internal beveling is seldom observed [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such wounds frequently show a keyhole shape, sometimes with both internal and external beveling [4,16,[18][19][20]. There is also limited insight into the correlation between wound dimensions and bullet characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finite-element simulation of firearm injury to the human cranium

Mota

Klug

Ortiz

et al. 2003

Computational Mechanics

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An advanced physics-based simulation of firearms injury to the human cranium is presented, modeling by finite elements the collision of a firearm projectile into a human parietal bone. The space-discretized equations of motion are explicitly integrated in time with Newmark's time-stepping algorithm. The impact of the projectile on the skull, as well as the collisions between flying fragments, are controlled through a nonsmooth contact algorithm. Cohesive theories of fracture, in conjunction with adaptive remeshing, control the nucleation and the propagation of fractures. The progressive opening of fracture surfaces is governed by a thermodynamically irreversible cohesive law embedded into cohesive-interface elements. Numerical results compare well with forensic data of actual firearm wounds to human crania.

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External Beveling of Cranial Gunshot Entrance Wounds

Cited by 38 publications

References 3 publications

Intersecting fractures of the skull and gunshot wounds. Case report and literature review

Intersecting fractures of the skull and gunshot wounds. Case report and literature review

Heat-induced post-mortem defect of the skull simulating an exit gunshot wound of the calvarium

Finite-element simulation of firearm injury to the human cranium

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