*Address of correspondence: Dr. Vijayakumari N, 94/7c, Mullainagar Extension, Suramangalam post, Salem-636005, Tamilnadu, India. E-mail: vijayakumarinagaraj69@gmail.com
Online published on 29 April, 2015.
The objective of this study was to identify the most common internal neck structure injury which indicates the ligature mark intravitality in case of death due to suicidal hanging. Various internal neck structure injuries were studied in 63 autopsy cases at chennai. We observed carotid artery intimal tear 19 cases (30%) and rupture/contusion to sternomastoid muscle 18 cases (29%) as the common injuries. The data drawn from this study suggests that in addition to ligature mark, presence of carotid artery intimal tear or rupture/contusion of sternomastoid muscle will help us to confirm the antemortem nature of hanging with greater certainty.
Antemortem, Hanging, Carotid artery intimal tear, Sternomastoid contusion
