Mechanism of transverse fracture of the skull base caused by blunt force to the mandible. (February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Yan-Lin; Wang, Dian-Shen; Yang, Xing-An; Yang, Teng-Fei; Zhang, Fu; Yu, Yan-Geng; Miao, Qi-Feng; Li, Dong-Ri
• Is Part Of: Legal medicine. Volume 54(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-02
• Subjects: Transverse skull base fracture -- Traffic accident -- Blunt force -- Mandibular fracture -- Finite element model -- PC-Crash; Medical jurisprudence -- Periodicals; Forensic Medicine -- Periodicals; Médecine légale -- Périodiques; Medical jurisprudence; Periodicals; 614.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2021.101996
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1344-6223

Abstract

Highlights: Blunt violence of the mandible can cause transverse fracture of the skull base. Accident reconstruction helps to clarify the mode of violence. The finite element method helps to clarify the fracture mechanism. Abstract: Transverse fracture of the skull base is common both in the crushing of temporal regions of the skull and in the case of force acting on one temporal region. However, the mechanism of transverse skull base fracture caused by maxillofacial force has not been fully clarified. To provide an injury identification basis for forensic pathologists and clinicians, this paper combines accident reconstruction and finite element analysis methods to study the injury mechanism of an incomplete transverse fracture of skull base after the injured individual's mandible was subjected to violence in a traffic accident. The results show that after the injured individual's mandible was subjected to violence, forces in the direction of the left mandibular fossa and the right mandibular fossa were generated, creating the component forces. The combination of the two forces can produce a crushing effect toward the center of the skull base, as if the left and right temporal regions are being crushed, and the stress is concentrated at the joint of the mandible, the middle cranial fossa and the hypophyseal fossa. When the stress exceeds a certain limit, it will cause a transverse fracture of the skull base.