Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, ISSN - 0973 - 709X

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On Sep 2018




Prof. Somashekhar Nimbalkar

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Prof. Somashekhar Nimbalkar
Head, Department of Pediatrics, Pramukhswami Medical College, Karamsad
Chairman, Research Group, Charutar Arogya Mandal, Karamsad
National Joint Coordinator - Advanced IAP NNF NRP Program
Ex-Member, Governing Body, National Neonatology Forum, New Delhi
Ex-President - National Neonatology Forum Gujarat State Chapter
Department of Pediatrics, Pramukhswami Medical College, Karamsad, Anand, Gujarat.
On Sep 2018




Dr. Kalyani R

"Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research is at present a well-known Indian originated scientific journal which started with a humble beginning. I have been associated with this journal since many years. I appreciate the Editor, Dr. Hemant Jain, for his constant effort in bringing up this journal to the present status right from the scratch. The journal is multidisciplinary. It encourages in publishing the scientific articles from postgraduates and also the beginners who start their career. At the same time the journal also caters for the high quality articles from specialty and super-specialty researchers. Hence it provides a platform for the scientist and researchers to publish. The other aspect of it is, the readers get the information regarding the most recent developments in science which can be used for teaching, research, treating patients and to some extent take preventive measures against certain diseases. The journal is contributing immensely to the society at national and international level."



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Professor and Head
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Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College
Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research , Kolar, Karnataka
On Sep 2018




Dr. Saumya Navit

"As a peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research provides an opportunity to researchers, scientists and budding professionals to explore the developments in the field of medicine and dentistry and their varied specialities, thus extending our view on biological diversities of living species in relation to medicine.
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Dr Saumya Navit
Professor and Head
Department of Pediatric Dentistry
Saraswati Dental College
Lucknow
On Sep 2018




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Dr. Arunava Biswas
MD, DM (Clinical Pharmacology)
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacology
Calcutta National Medical College & Hospital , Kolkata




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Best regards,
C.S. Ramesh Babu,
Associate Professor of Anatomy,
Muzaffarnagar Medical College,
Muzaffarnagar.
On Aug 2018




Dr. Arundhathi. S
"Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR) is a reputed peer reviewed journal and is constantly involved in publishing high quality research articles related to medicine. Its been a great pleasure to be associated with this esteemed journal as a reviewer and as an author for a couple of years. The editorial board consists of many dedicated and reputed experts as its members and they are doing an appreciable work in guiding budding researchers. JCDR is doing a commendable job in scientific research by promoting excellent quality research & review articles and case reports & series. The reviewers provide appropriate suggestions that improve the quality of articles. I strongly recommend my fraternity to encourage JCDR by contributing their valuable research work in this widely accepted, user friendly journal. I hope my collaboration with JCDR will continue for a long time".



Dr. Arundhathi. S
MBBS, MD (Pathology),
Sanjay Gandhi institute of trauma and orthopedics,
Bengaluru.
On Aug 2018




Dr. Mamta Gupta,
"It gives me great pleasure to be associated with JCDR, since last 2-3 years. Since then I have authored, co-authored and reviewed about 25 articles in JCDR. I thank JCDR for giving me an opportunity to improve my own skills as an author and a reviewer.
It 's a multispecialty journal, publishing high quality articles. It gives a platform to the authors to publish their research work which can be available for everyone across the globe to read. The best thing about JCDR is that the full articles of all medical specialties are available as pdf/html for reading free of cost or without institutional subscription, which is not there for other journals. For those who have problem in writing manuscript or do statistical work, JCDR comes for their rescue.
The journal has a monthly publication and the articles are published quite fast. In time compared to other journals. The on-line first publication is also a great advantage and facility to review one's own articles before going to print. The response to any query and permission if required, is quite fast; this is quite commendable. I have a very good experience about seeking quick permission for quoting a photograph (Fig.) from a JCDR article for my chapter authored in an E book. I never thought it would be so easy. No hassles.
Reviewing articles is no less a pain staking process and requires in depth perception, knowledge about the topic for review. It requires time and concentration, yet I enjoy doing it. The JCDR website especially for the reviewers is quite user friendly. My suggestions for improving the journal is, more strict review process, so that only high quality articles are published. I find a a good number of articles in Obst. Gynae, hence, a new journal for this specialty titled JCDR-OG can be started. May be a bimonthly or quarterly publication to begin with. Only selected articles should find a place in it.
An yearly reward for the best article authored can also incentivize the authors. Though the process of finding the best article will be not be very easy. I do not know how reviewing process can be improved. If an article is being reviewed by two reviewers, then opinion of one can be communicated to the other or the final opinion of the editor can be communicated to the reviewer if requested for. This will help one’s reviewing skills.
My best wishes to Dr. Hemant Jain and all the editorial staff of JCDR for their untiring efforts to bring out this journal. I strongly recommend medical fraternity to publish their valuable research work in this esteemed journal, JCDR".



Dr. Mamta Gupta
Consultant
(Ex HOD Obs &Gynae, Hindu Rao Hospital and associated NDMC Medical College, Delhi)
Aug 2018




Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey

"I wish to thank Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), for asking me to write up few words.
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium i e; into the words and sentences on paper. Quality medical manuscript writing in particular, demands not only a high-quality research, but also requires accurate and concise communication of findings and conclusions, with adherence to particular journal guidelines. In medical field whether working in teaching, private, or in corporate institution, everyone wants to excel in his / her own field and get recognised by making manuscripts publication.


Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."



Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011




Dr. Shankar P.R.

"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."



Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011
Anuradha

Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.


Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020

Important Notice

Original article / research
Year : 2011 | Month : June | Volume : 5 | Issue : 3 | Page : 592 - 596 Full Version

The pattern of fatal head injury in a teaching hospital in eastern Nepal.


Published: June 1, 2011 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2011/.1351
SHIVENDRE JHA, B. N. YADAV, AMIT AGRAWAL, DILIP THAKUR, ABHISHEK KARNA, NUWADATTA SUBEDI, SHARMILA GURUNG

Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, BPKIHS, Dharan, Nepal Department of Neurosurgery, MM Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Mullana- Ambala, Haryana, India Department of Basic and Clinical Physiology, BPKIHS, Dharan, Nepal

Correspondence Address :
Shivendra Jha Assistant Professor Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Ghopa Camp, Dharan drshivendrajha@gmail.com 025-525555-Ext 5014(Off); 3293 (Res); Cell- 9852049121

Abstract

Background : Head injury is an important cause of mortality worldwide, as the head is the most vulnerable part of the body which is involved in fatal road traffic accidents. Objective: To study the pattern of fatal head injury in the victims of road traffic accidents, who presented to the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal, which is a focal place for autopsies in the Sunsari district.
Materials and methods: All cases of head injuries in road traffic accident victims, who were autopsied at the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal from Feb 2006 to May 2007, were included in the study.
Results: 77 people died in road traffic accidents due to head injuries in the study period. There was a marked male preponderance (78%). The most vulnerable age group was young adults between the ages of 21 - 40 years (38%)).Pedestrians were the most commonly involved victims (48%). Skull fractures were present in 85.7% of the cases. Fractures of the vault were found in 93.9% and those of the base of the skull were found in 57.50% of the cases. Comminuted fractures were found (45.16%) in a maximum number of cases, followed by depressed and linear fractures (38%) in almost the same numbers of cases. Among intra-cranial haemorrhages, subdural haemorrhage was found in 50.6%, extradural in 48% and subarachnoid haemorrhage in 35% of the cases. More than half of the victims (57.1%) suffered injury to the cerebrum and 18.1% victims to the cerebellum. Contusions and lacerations of brain were found equally (35%) in the cases.
Conclusion: Injuries to the skull and brain are the major and significant contributory factors in the causation of the fatalities on the roads, resulting from the accidents.

Keywords

Brain Injuries, Fracture Skull, Head Injury, Intracranial Haemorrhages, Road Traffic Accident

A head injury, as defined by the National Advisory Neurological Diseases and Stroke Council, is a morbid state resulting from gross or subtle structural changes in the scalp, skull, and/or the contents of the skull, which is produced by mechanical forces’. To be complete, however, it should be taken into account that the impact which is responsible for the injury need not be applied directly to the head (1).

Of all the regional injuries, those of the head are the most common and the most important ones in forensic practice. The dominance of head injuries in road traffic accidents is due to the fact that, when the victim is pushed or knocked to the ground, he/she often strikes the head and also, that the brain and its coverings are vulnerable to blunt trauma that would not so frequently be lethal if applied to other body parts.

Early and proper treatment is essential to save the life of the victims, especially in cases of head injury. By analyzing the pattern of the head injury, we can attempt to find a means to achieve this goal. Therefore, this problem needs serious attention for the prevention of unnatural deaths on roads by vehicles, which requires a worldwide epidemiological, medico- legal and clinical study on such victims.

Material and Methods

The materials for the present study comprised of 77 fatal headinjury cases due to road traffic accidents which were brought to the mortuary of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, B.P.Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal, for medicolegal postmortem examination. These cases were from various police stations of the Sunsari district and also from several police stations from the near by adjoining districts and some from India also. The duration of the study was from 1st Feb 2006 to 1st May 2007.

Inclusion criteria: Victims who died due to head injuries in road traffic accidents. Exclusion criteria: Decomposed bodies and bodies with no specific histories of head injury. The detailed information about the cases was collected from different sources, including: 1. The inquest report and other relevant papers brought by the police along with the dead body in fatal cases. 2. By interviewing the police personal accompanying the dead body. 3. By interviewing the relatives, neighbours, friends or other persons accompanying the dead body. 4. The autopsy examination findings.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
The data which were collected were entered into a Microsoft Excel worksheet and were then analyzed by using the SPSS 10.0 version. A detailed descriptive statistics was done.

Results

A total of 77 cases of road traffic accident victims with head injury, who were autopsied during the above mentioned period, showed the following results (see the tables).(Table/Fig 1)(Table/Fig 2)(Table/Fig 3)(Table/Fig 4)

Discussion

Age distribution: In present study, the ages of the victims ranged from 3-84 years. The maximum number of fatalities were in the 21-30 years age group (19.5%), followed by the 31-40 years age group (18.2%) and the 41-50 years age group (16.9%).The incidence of fatal head injuries were the lowest below 10 yrs of age (3.9%) (See Table 1). A high incidence of fatalities in the adult age groups (21-50 years) may be explained by the fact that people from these age groups are more often required to move outdoors in pursuit of their work and studies. This is in accordance with studies which were done by Tyagi (2), Sinha and Sengupta (3), Banerjee(4) and Salgado (5). Larsen(6) observed that the age group which was most commonly affected was the 26-30 years age group. A study which was conducted by Chandra (7) showed the age group of 21-40 years (46%) to be the most commonly affected one. Tripude (8) found that age group which was most commonly affected was the 21-30 years age groups (39%). Wick (9) said that the mean age of 28.8 years and 27.9% of the total cases belonged to the age group of 25-30 years. Andy Harris (10) pointed that the fatality rates were highest in the 17-25 year age group. Satiyasekaran (11) also found that 47% of the injured persons were in the age group of 16-30 years. Menon et al (12). reported the most vulnerable age group to be between 21 and 30 years. The commonest age group which was affected was between 21-40 years, in 1341 (54.24%) of the cases which were studied by Arvind Kumar et al (13).

Sex distribution: In the present study (Table/Fig 1), over 3/4th of the victims were males (78%). The male to female ratio in this study was 3.53:1. The preponderance of males over the females in road traffic accident deaths may be explained by the fact that women generally remain indoors and hence are not much exposed to the risk of accidents on the roads. Tyagi(2) reported that males were affected five times more than females. Sinha and Sengupta(3) reported an 80% male incidence. Banerjee (4) reported an 86% male and 14% female incidence. Johnson(14) reported the incidence to be 89% in males and 11% in females in USA. Chandra(7) reported 71.74% male victims among the total number of cases. Sathiyasekaran (11) reported that males constituted 82.5% of the total study cases. Menon et al (12). reported a male preponderance (84.6%) among 682 victims of road traffic accidents with head injuries. In a study on 423 subjects by Ganveer et al (15). 363 (85.8%) were males. The male/female ratio was 7.49:1.in a study which was done by Arvind Kumar et al (13).

The nature and distribution of the scalp injuries: In the analysis of the injuries in our present study (Table/Fig 2), the scalp revealed laceration, contusion and abrasion in the diminishing order of frequency of 59.7%, 27.3% and 23.4% respectively; while all the three types of injuries showed a general tendency towards a decreased incidence form the fourth decade and onwards. The above distribution of the injuries not only point out to the great force of the impacts in automobile accidents, but also suggest that the vulnerability of the scalp to the blunt force injuries, decreases with advancing age, perhaps due to its atrophic change and diminished vascularity.

Distribution of the skull fractures in the different age groups: In the present series (Table/Fig 3), an analysis of the distribution of the skull fractures in the different age groups revealed that therewas the presence of a skull fracture in about 6/7 of the total victims; in the elderly group, it was seen in 100% cases, while it showed a lowest fracture rate in the 0-10 years as well as in the 51-60 years age groups. It is obvious that though no age group is free from the risk of fractures of the skull in road traffic fatalities, osteoporotic changes which may have occurred in the bones in the old age group may have contributed to so much of fracture (100%) in this group(14),(15).

Mehta(16), in his clinical series of accidental head injury cases, found skull fractures in 15.1% of the cases. Vasanta(17), in his 220 autopsied head injury cases, observed skull fractures in 80.90% of the cases. In another study on 50 autopsied cases of head injuries, Rowbotham(15) found fractures of the skull in as many as 90% of the cases and in 72% of the cases, both the vault and base of the skull were also involved. In a series of 1,367 autopsied cases of head injuries which were caused by blunt forces, Freytag(18) found skull fractures in as many as 70% of the total cases. Pande(19) et al. in 70 fatal accidents, found skull fractures in as many as 92.8% of the cases.

Skull fractures: nature and distribution of the fractures of the vault: In the present series (Table/Fig 4), in more than 9/10th of the victims with fractures of the skull, the incidence of fractures of the vault of the skull were frequent (93.9%), amongst which about half (45.2%) of the fractures were comminuted fractures, followed by depressed and linear fractures.. The incidence of fissured fractures was the highest (60%) in the 5th to the 6th decade of life, which may be attributed to the osteoporotic change which might have occurred in the bones in that phase of life, followed by depressed fractures (54.4%) in the 3rd to 4th decade and comminuted fractures in an earlier age group till the second decade (50%). Rowbotham(15), in his clinical series of 1000 head injury cases, found compound fractures of the vaults alone in 6.8% of the cases, out of which 3.7% were linear and 3.75% were depressed. Chattopadhyay et al.(20), in their 91 head injury cases, showed the involvement of multiple cranial bones in 69.3% of the cases, while comminuted fractures of the skull were common among the fatal cases. Fractures of the vault were found in 88% of the cases by Menon et al.(12)

Skull fractures: distribution of the basal fractures: The analysis of the injuries to the base of the skull in the present study is shown in (Table/Fig 5). More than half of the cases (57.5%) had fractures of the base of the skull. The fracture was highest in the middle cranial fossa (44.7%). This frequency pattern of the incidence of the basal fractures may be due to the larger area of the side impact and the thinness of this part of the base of the skull, as compared to the anterior and posterior cranial fosse. The incidence of basal fractures was highest in the elderly age group (81.8%) with total skull fractures. The fracture of the middle cranial fossa was very commonly (85.7%) reported in the 2nd decade of life. Vasant(17) found fractures of the base of the skull in 16% of the cases of head injuries, which resulted from all causes. Chattopadhyay et al.(20) noted fractures of the base of the skull only in the fatal cases. Menon et al.(12) found fractures of the base of the skull in 35.97% of the cases. Fractures of the base of the skull were seen in 15% of the cases by BR Sharma et al(21). Rowbothm’s(15) series of 50 autopsied cases of head injuries revealed fractures of the base as well as of the vault, in 72 % of the cases. Jenet et al.(22) in their clinical series, noted basal fractures in 19% of the cases.

The presence of intracranial haemorrhage: In the present series (Table/Fig 6), 50.6% of the cases had subdural haemorrhage, followed by extradural haemorrhage (48%), intracerebral haemorrhage (35%) and subarachnoid haemorrhage (20.7%). Extradural haemorrhage (66.6%) was seen more in the 1st decade of life, subdural haemorrhage (66.6%) was seen more in the 5th decade of life, subarachnoid (27.2%) haemorrhage wasseen after the 6th decade of life and intracerebral haemorrhage (38.4%) was seen in the 5th decade of life.

Tyagi(2) reported the incidence of subarachnoid haemorrhage as 81% and that of subdural haemorrhage as 69.3%. In a study by Menon et al.(12) subdural haemorrhage was found in 52.63% and subarachnoid haemorrhage in 27.27% of the cases. Chandra(7) observed that the commonest variety was subarachnoid haemorrhage (66.9%), followed by subdural haemorrhage (58.2%), intracerebral haemorrhage (22.5%) and extradural haemorrhage (14.2%). Salgado(5) emphasized about the higher incidence of brain injuries than the injuries to any other visceral organs, in all type of road users.

BR Sharma et al.(21) found that subdural haematoma was the most common (62.40%) type of haemorrhage, followed by subarachnoid (23.5%), extradural (16%) and intracerebral (9%) haemorrhages. Arvind Kumar et al.(13) reported subdural haemorrhage (89.11%) as the commonest variety of intracranial haemorrhage.

The nature and distribution of the primary lesions of the brain: In the present series (Table/Fig 7) the analyses of the primary lesionsshowed that more than half of the victims, ie. 57.1% had injury to the cerebrum, which constituted lacerations in 39% and contusions in 18.1% of the cases. 18.1% victims had injury to the cerebellum, with lacerations in 15.5% and contusions in 2.6% of the cases. The incidence of the injuries to the cerebrum was highest in the 2nd decade (75%) and that to the cerebellum was highest in the 5th decade of life (31.2%). Freytag(18), in his series of 1367 cases of head injuries which were caused by blunt forces, found primary brain lesions in as many as 1213 (89%) of the cases. Contusions and lacerations of the brain were found equally in 35% of the cases by Menon et al.[12 ]Cerebral contusions and lacerations were seen in 23.7% of the cases by BR Sharma et al.(21) Chandra(7) found that lacerations were the commonest (24.8%) form of injuries, followed by contusions (23.6%), which were consistent with the findings of the present study.

The nature and the distribution of the primary lesions involving the deeper structures of the brain: The analysis of the primary lesions in the deeper structures of the brain in the present study is shown in (Table/Fig 8). The basal ganglia and the corpus callosum were found to be involved in 30% cases, while the mid brain and the brain stem together had primary lesions in 25.71% of the cases. It is possible that the mid brain and the brain stem, being located at a lower level, were rather less vulnerable to the primary lesions than the latter structures (the corpus callous and the basal ganglia). Mohanty(23)observed that the brain stem bears the blunt force of the skull deformations, the shearing strains door or rotational forces and the increased intra-cranial pressure which occurred as the result of the trauma. Freytag(18), in his series, found primary lesions to be located in the basal ganglia and in the corpus callous in 27% and in the mid brain and brain stem in 23% of the cases with primary lesions.

Coup and contre coup injuries: In the present study, (Table/Fig 9) an overwhelming majority of (96.1%) victims showed no contrecoup injuries, while 20.7% victims had countercoup injuries also. Freytag(18) found no contrecoup injury, which may be due to the absence of roughness and because the cerebrum is enclosed in a tight chamber.

Distribution of the contrecoup injuries: In the present study, (Table/Fig 10) the frontal areas (62.5%) had the highest incidence of contrecoup injuries, followed by those in the posterior or the occipital region (18.75%) and in the right lateral (2 or 22.5%) and the left lateral region (1 or 6.25%). The contrecoup injury was seen most frequently in the 2nd decade of life (5 or 31.25%). A higher incidence of lesions in the contrecoup lesions in the frontal areas can be amenable to the fact that thisarea abounds in the bony projection which arises from the base of the anterior cranial fossa. A higher incidence of the contrecoup lesion in the right lateral can be justified, as the impact on that side more often comes from the right side.

Conclusion

The present study comprised of 77 cases of fatal road traffic accidents which led to head injuries. In this study, the injuries to the skull and the brain were the major and significant contributory factors in the causation of the fatalities on the roads, which resulted from the accidents. The scalp, the skull and the intracerebral structures, including the cerebrum, cerebellum, midbrain, and the brainstem, with the intracranial vessels, are liable to sustain various types of traumatic lesions such as fractures, contusions, lacerations, coups and contrecoup injuries and intracranial haemorrhages, thus contributing to a fatal outcome in road accident victims.

Though a majority of the victims could reach the hospital, they could not be saved due the fatal and irreversible damage to the brain, as shown by autopsy also. This emphasizes on a need to develop preventive measures like awareness about traffic rules, the use of seat belts and crush helmets, an improved construction and the maintenance of the roads, better traffic monitoring, the prevention of drunken driving amongst the automobile drivers, and increased road traffic sense in the road users.

There is a need for the medico-legal and forensic experts to spread awareness about the severity of the fatal head injuries which are caused due to the road traffic accidents. The forensic experts must not only be able to analyze the various fatal injuries as to their nature and the mechanism of causation of such injuries at the postmortem examination, with a view to suggest measures for their prevention; and also in enlightening the law enforcing agencies such as the police and the judiciary, with a view to help them, not only in bringing the defaulting automobile drivers. Being experts, we should contribute our knowledge to reduce the number and the severity of the accidents and to encourage and undertake research activities and studies on different aspects of the accidents.

Key Message

Brain injuries are very common in road traffic accidents. Young male pedestrians are the most commonly involved victims. Intracranial haematomas and fractures are commonly associated in head injuries.

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