Nomenclature for Knot Position in Hanging A Study of 200 cases

Hanging is one of the common methods of committing suicide world wide. Position of the knot, in hanging cases is important as it determines the post-mortem findings of the head and face and can also be used to predict the expected autopsy findings. Although hanging has been described in forensic literature since ages, there has been no proper scientific nomenclature for classifying the position of knot in hanging cases. This paper describes a new nomenclature of exact knot position on the neck based on commonly used anatomical landmarks with self explanatory terms of classification, so that it can be understood and used by the autopsy surgeons and the pathologists with ease.

In the present study 200 cases of hanging were studied retrospectively and position of knot is classified according to a newly described nomenclature. The new nomenclature classifies the position of knot into 6 major classes each of which are further subdivided into 3 subcategories thus making 18 different positions on each side of neck. The most common position of knot was found at occipitomastoid region (32%) and the least common position being at mental region (2%).