Hyoid Bone Fractures in Mechanical Asphyxiation Deaths: A Study at Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v17i4.19946Keywords:
Mechanical Asphyxiation, Hyoid Bone, Hanging, Ligature Strangulation, Throttling.Abstract
The fractures of the hyoid bone in the neck are one of the important indicators of any pressure over the neck. The
present study includes a huge sample size of mechanical asphyxiation deaths (791 cases) to study the incidence of
hyoid bone fractures in hanging, ligature strangulation, and throttling. Fractures of the hyoid bone were noticed in
a total of 12 cases, 9 male and 3 female with 33.33% incidence in the 41-50 years age group. Throttling dominated
the strangulation group in our study with a share of 42.85%. A total of 6 (5 male, 1 female) cases showed hyoid
bone fractures in the strangulation group wherein the predominant incidence is seen in 41-50 years(50%). In our
study, right cornu fractures are frequent in hanging and throttling. Except for one outward compression fracture
in a hanging instance, all of the fractures identified in our investigation are inward compression fractures. The
present study adds to the existing literature that hyoid bone fractures are less common in hanging than throttling
and any fracture of hyoid bone is common after the age of 40 years because of calcification.
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