Pollanen M S, Chiasson D A
Pathology and Chemistry University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
J Forensic Sci. 1996 Jan;41(1):110-3.
The hyoid is the U-shaped bone of the neck that is fractured in one-third of all homicides by strangulation. On this basis, postmortem detection of hyoid fracture is relevant to the diagnosis of strangulation. However, since many cases lack a hyoid fracture, the absence of this finding does not exclude strangulation as a cause of death. The reasons why some hyoids fracture and others do not may relate to the nature and magnitude of force applied to the neck, age of the victim, nature of the instrument (ligature or hands) used to strangle, and intrinsic anatomic features of the hyoid bone. We compared the case profiles and xeroradiographic appearance of the hyoids of 20 victims of homicidal strangulation with and without hyoid fracture (n = 10, each). The fractured hyoids occurred in older victims of strangulation (39 +/- 14 years) when compared to the victims with unfractured hyoids (30 +/- 10 years). The age-dependency of hyoid fracture correlated with the degree of ossification or fusion of the hyoid synchondroses. The hyoid was fused in older victims of strangulation (41 +/- 12 years) whereas the unfused hyoids were found in the younger victims (28 +/- 10 years). In addition, the hyoid bone was ossified or fused in 70% of all fractured hyoids, but, only 30% of the unfractured hyoids were fused. The shape of the hyoid bone was also found to differentiate fractured and unfractured hyoids. Fractured hyoids were longer in the anterior-posterior plane and were more steeply sloping when compared with unfractured hyoids. These data indicate that hyoids of strangulation victims, with and without fracture, are distinguished by various indices of shape and rigidity. On this basis, it may be possible to explain why some victims of strangulation do not have fractured hyoid bones.
舌骨是颈部呈U形的骨头，在三分之一的勒杀致死的凶杀案中会发生骨折。基于此，尸检时检测到舌骨骨折与勒杀诊断相关。然而，由于许多案例中没有舌骨骨折，所以没有这一发现并不能排除勒杀作为死因。一些舌骨发生骨折而另一些没有骨折的原因可能与施加于颈部的力的性质和大小、受害者的年龄、用于勒杀的工具（绳索或双手）的性质以及舌骨的内在解剖特征有关。我们比较了20名勒杀致死受害者中舌骨骨折和未骨折者（各10例）的病例概况和干板X线摄影表现。与舌骨未骨折的受害者（30±10岁）相比，骨折的舌骨多见于年龄较大的勒杀受害者（39±14岁）。舌骨骨折的年龄依赖性与舌骨软骨结合的骨化或融合程度相关。勒杀的老年受害者（41±12岁）的舌骨是融合的，而年轻受害者（28±10岁）的舌骨未融合。此外，所有骨折舌骨中有70%发生了骨化或融合，但未骨折的舌骨中只有30%发生了融合。还发现舌骨的形状可区分骨折和未骨折的舌骨。与未骨折的舌骨相比，骨折的舌骨在前后平面上更长，且倾斜度更大。这些数据表明，勒杀受害者无论舌骨有无骨折，都可通过形状和硬度的各种指标加以区分。基于此，或许可以解释为什么有些勒杀受害者没有舌骨骨折。
