Cancer and Translational Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
BMC Res Notes. 2022 Mar 16;15(1):103. doi: 10.1186/s13104-022-05997-2.
Gunshot wounds are frequently studied using computed tomography (CT) to examine tissue damage. In this study, we aimed to test the potential of post-mortem CT (PMCT) in shooting distance estimation at distances 0-100 cm. We hypothesized that in addition to the wound channel, we could also potentially detect tissue damage caused by muzzle pressure on PMCT.
A total of 59 gunshot wounds (23 contact shots, 21 close-range shots, 15 distant shots) were inflicted on eight piglet carcasses with a .22 Long Rifle handgun. PMCT scans were obtained using clinical equipment, and they were evaluated for wound characteristics by visual inspection and numeric measurements. In our data, contact shots could be clearly distinguished from close-range and distant shots by a hyperdense ring-shaped area surrounding the outermost part of the wound channel. Close-range and distant shot wounds did not have this feature and were difficult to distinguish from each other. The mean wound channel diameter ranged from 3.4 to 5.4 mm, being smallest in contact shots and largest in distant shots. These preliminary findings suggest that PMCT may aid the estimation of shooting distance. As this study only addressed low velocity gunshot wounds in carcasses, further studies are warranted.
枪击伤经常通过计算机断层扫描（CT）进行研究，以检查组织损伤。在这项研究中，我们旨在测试死后 CT（PMCT）在 0-100cm 距离处估计射击距离的潜力。我们假设，除了伤口通道外，我们还可以在 PMCT 上检测到枪口压力造成的组织损伤。
总共在 8 个小猪尸体上使用.22 长步枪手枪造成了 59 个枪击伤（23 个接触射击，21 个近距离射击，15 个远距离射击）。使用临床设备进行 PMCT 扫描，并通过视觉检查和数值测量评估伤口特征。在我们的数据中，接触射击可以通过围绕伤口通道最外层的高密度环形区域与近距离和远距离射击明显区分开来。近距离和远距离射击伤没有这个特征，彼此难以区分。伤口通道的平均直径范围为 3.4 至 5.4mm，接触射击最小，远距离射击最大。这些初步发现表明 PMCT 可能有助于估计射击距离。由于本研究仅涉及尸体中的低速度枪击伤，因此需要进一步研究。
