Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopaedic Science, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Section of Legal Medicine, S. Chiara Hospital, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Clin Ter. 2023 Mar-Apr;174(2):109-114. doi: 10.7417/CT.2023.2505.
As sharp force injury accounts for 10-20% of clinical forensic examinations, forensic pathologists are often asked to investigate deceased victims of stab wounds. Moreover, homicide by sharp force (stabbing) is one of the most common in European countries, involving generally domestic or interpersonal conflict. Stabbing as a suicide method constitutes a low percentage of all suicides, 2% to 3%. Accidental death due to sharp force is even rarer (0-3%) and usu-ally caused by an impact or a fall into different type of glass surface. Death due to stabbing is usually caused by exsanguinating incisions to organs or large blood vessels (such as arteries), leading to haemor-rhagic shock. Penetrating artery injuries are well known in clinical settings, and extremities are the most common sites of such injuries. Indeed, 50% to 60% of injuries occur in femoral or popliteal arteries, 30% in brachial artery.
The aim of this paper is to present two rare cases of sharp force fatality, showing how a thorough forensic pathology methodology, including death scene investigation, autopsy examination, and toxicological analyses, are pivotal to detect the manner of death.
This paper presents two peculiar cases of sharp force fatalities: the first, a single and accidental stab injury on the right armpit which caused a complete transection of the axillary artery; the second, a single homicidal stab wound on the lower leg causing a full-thickness lesion of the anterior tibial artery.
锐器伤占临床法医检查的 10-20%，因此法医病理学家经常被要求调查被刺伤的死者。此外，锐器（刺伤）杀人是欧洲国家最常见的杀人方式之一，通常涉及家庭或人际冲突。作为自杀手段的刺伤在所有自杀事件中占比较低，为 2%至 3%。因锐器导致的意外死亡更为罕见（0-3%），通常是由于撞击或掉入不同类型的玻璃表面。刺伤导致的死亡通常是由于对器官或大血管（如动脉）造成的失血切口导致出血性休克。临床环境中众所周知的是穿透性动脉损伤，四肢是此类损伤的最常见部位。事实上，50%至 60%的损伤发生在股动脉或腘动脉，30%发生在肱动脉。
本文旨在介绍两例罕见的锐器致命案例，展示了全面的法医病理学方法，包括现场调查、尸检检查和毒理学分析，对于确定死亡方式至关重要。
本文介绍了两例独特的锐器致命案例：第一例是右腋窝的单一意外刺伤，导致腋动脉完全横断；第二例是小腿上的单一故意刺伤，导致胫骨前动脉全层损伤。
