[A bibliographic discussion on the obstruction of arteries and the air passage in hanging].

Since conjunctival petechial haemorrhage and froth can occur when the cervical arteries and air passage are not obstructed or incompletely obstructed, it is useful to know whether they are closed or not in a suspended body when we estimate the cause of its death being due to hanging or being a disguise after killed by strangulation. We discussed their obstruction in hanging after references, as summarized in tables. Arterial obstruction: Classical data on the arterial obstruction (Brouardel, 1897; Schwarzacher, 1928) have not been cited with a definite description that the data were obtained in experiments on typical hanging. In typical hanging, carotid arteries are directly closed with the compression by a ligature. There are three hypotheses on the mechanism of the obstruction of vertebral arteries: They are due to (1) the compression on the posterior and inferior region of the mastoid processes ("posterior compression"), (2) the backward and upward compression at the same time on the thyrohyoid membrane ("anterior compression") and (3) the vertical traction on the neck ("indirect obstruction"). In atypical hanging, carotid arteries can be indirectly closed in certain head positions. Vertebral arteries are not closed by the horizontal compression (hanging in a prone position). The "posterior compression" is effective. The "indirect obstruction" seems to be in existence. In the cases where ligatures do not run on the front of the necks but on the faces, it is advisable to consult the figures prepared by Rauschke (1957) and Brinkmann et al. (1981).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)