Daegling David J, Warren Michael W, Hotzman Jennifer L, Self Casey J
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, 1112 Turlington Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611-7305, USA.
J Forensic Sci. 2008 Nov;53(6):1301-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00876.x. Epub 2008 Sep 16.
Patterns of rib fractures are of significant clinical and forensic interest. Linking patterns of rib fracture with specific physical events provides a foundation for understanding the nature of traumatic events that are associated with rib fracture in forensic contexts. In this study, isolated human ribs (n = 8) were end-loaded to failure to investigate: (i) local deformations (bone strain) prior to and during structural failure, (ii) location of ultimate failure, and (iii) fracture mode. Structural properties of ribs were used to calculate theoretical stresses to determine whether such calculations could be used to predict site of fracture. Ribs fractured on the sternal side of midshaft in all experiments, but mode of failure varied with transverse, buckle, spiral, and "butterfly" fractures observed. Comparison of calculated stress with observed strain values suggest that experimental, rather than theoretical, approaches will be most productive in furthering understanding rib fracture in forensic contexts.
肋骨骨折的模式具有重要的临床和法医意义。将肋骨骨折模式与特定身体事件联系起来，为理解法医背景下与肋骨骨折相关的创伤事件的性质奠定了基础。在本研究中，对分离的人体肋骨（n = 8）进行端部加载直至破坏，以研究：（i）结构破坏之前和期间的局部变形（骨应变），（ii）最终破坏的位置，以及（iii）骨折模式。利用肋骨的结构特性计算理论应力，以确定此类计算是否可用于预测骨折部位。在所有实验中，肋骨均在中轴的胸骨侧骨折，但破坏模式有所不同，观察到有横向、扣状、螺旋状和“蝴蝶”状骨折。计算应力与观察到的应变值的比较表明，在法医背景下进一步理解肋骨骨折方面，实验方法而非理论方法将最有成效。
