Title

Pre-Mortem Versus Post-Mortem Findings in Trauma Fatalities - An Autopsy Based Study.

Authors

Vinit Gautum, Dharmendra Kumar Sharma, Anil Yadav, Deepali Pathak

Abstract

Background: This study evaluated the discrepancies between premortem and postmortem diagnoses of trauma fatalities in autopsied deaths at a tertiary care center. Material & Method: The autopsy reports of forensic deaths were analyzed in comparison to the clinical records for 300 trauma fatalities over a period of one year. Results: Trauma deaths with at least six hours of hospitalization were included in the study; consent taken an inclusion criteria, 3139 medico-legal autopsies were conducted at the study centre during the study period, amongst which 1769 were trauma fatalities. Out of these, randomly selected 300 cases were included in the present study on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria and clinical records and autopsy details were analyzed. Mean age of traumatic fatalities was 37.72 + 18.29 years; Road traffic accident being the commonest cause of trauma. Cases of trauma fatalities within 24 hrs of the incident were maximum (25%) and least number of fatalities occurred after 2 weeks (5.3%). 52 cases had discrepancies between pre and post mortem findings and there was no discrepancy in diagnoses in rest 82.7% cases. Majority of cases with discrepancies were of traffic accident casualties (84.6%) followed by falls (15.4%). When clinicians focused on the treatment according to their main diagnosis, they overlooked the fatal injuries in other parts of the body. Conclusion: This study shows that autopsy is the most reliable method for the confirmation of the clinical diagnosis in trauma patients. Therefore, clinicians particularly surgeons should compare the results of the autopsy diagnoses to their own diagnosis to monitor and modify diagnostic and treatment protocols.

Key words

Pre-Mortem Versus Post-Mortem, Clinical Versus Forensic, Road traffic accident, Discrepancies.

DOI

  10.59988/jfmsl.vol.33issue1.3