Johnson C P, Burns J
Subdepartment of Forensic Pathology, Royal Liverpool Hospital, University of Liverpool, England.
Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1993 Jun;14(2):165-9. doi: 10.1097/00000433-199306000-00014.
After an apparently minor blow to the neck, the vertebral artery may rupture, with a fatal outcome. It is medico-legally important to assess whether the structural state of the artery is normal and, if not, whether this abnormality contributed significantly to the individual's death. Histological confirmation of such cases is rare, as are studies of the morphology of this artery. We examined the accumulation of proteoglycans at various sites along this transitional artery in 18 subjects of different ages. There are marked age-related increases in accumulations associated with fragmentation of elastic tissue within the tunica media, with no favoured site for such changes, but with substantially fewer proteoglycans within the intracranial portion of the artery. Focal large accumulations are occasionally seen in isolated segments of arteries, with overall modest counts. We discuss implications of these findings and recommend that multiple sections of artery be examined in cases of vertebral artery rupture in order to avoid misrepresentative assessment of the structural state.
在颈部受到看似轻微的撞击后，椎动脉可能会破裂，导致致命后果。评估动脉的结构状态是否正常，如果不正常，这种异常是否对个体的死亡有重大影响，在法医学上具有重要意义。此类病例的组织学确认很少见，对该动脉形态学的研究也是如此。我们检查了18名不同年龄受试者这条过渡动脉不同部位蛋白聚糖的积聚情况。与中膜内弹性组织断裂相关的积聚有明显的年龄相关性增加，且没有这种变化的偏好部位，但动脉颅内部分的蛋白聚糖要少得多。偶尔在动脉的孤立节段可见局灶性大量积聚，总体计数适中。我们讨论了这些发现的意义，并建议在椎动脉破裂的病例中检查动脉的多个切片，以避免对结构状态的错误评估。
