شیوع آسیب مغزی بدون شکستگی جمجمه در اتوپسی قربانیان ترومای سر

Title

Prevalence of Structural Brain Damage Without Skull Fracture in Autopsy of Head Trauma Victims

English Abstract

Background: Head trauma is one of the most important causes of death in people under 40 years of age. Fatal brain injury can often occur with a healthy skull, too. The aim of this study is to investigate the epidemiology of brain damage without skull fracture. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the records of all of the victims of head trauma who were referred to the Legal Medicine Organization (LMO) of Tehran province and were reported without skull fracture in the autopsy and whose pathological samples were dispatched for the analysis of their soft tissue, were investigated. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0. software. The results were considered significant at P<0.05. Results: In this study, from among the 400 deceased persons, 86 cases did not have skull fracture and therefore were selected to be investigated. Their mean age was 27±4.2. Sixty-five of them (75.6%) were male and 21 (24.4%) were females and most of them were pedestrians (45.3%). Most of the hemorrhage and damage (37.2%) occurred in the temporal lobe of the brain. In all of the age groups and in both males and females, subarachnoid hemorrhage had the highest prevalence and there was a significant relationship between that and age groups (p=0.022). Simultaneous analysis of the injuries to the brain lobes and the victims’ age indicated that temporal lobe damage is the most prevalent type of brain damage, especially for the age group of 19-36. Conclusions: Since head trauma is the most prevalent cause of death and fatal brain damage can often take place with a healthy skull too, it is required that more attention be paid to those injured people without skull fracture in the emergency ward of the hospitals.

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