Study of Fracture of Hyoid Bone in Hanging Cases

There is great importance of fracture of hyoid bone in the cases of asphyxial deaths due to compression of neck by ligature material. There had been a vast difference of opinion regarding the presence of hyoid bone fractures in cases of hanging. The various authors have reported the incidence of hyoid bone fracture from nil/rare to as high as 67% in hanging cases. Keeping the above facts into consideration, the present study was undertaken with the aim of studying the presence of hyoid bone fractures in hanging cases. The study was conducted in a retrospective manner in the Department of Forensic Medicine, VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. The data regarding the incidence of hyoid bone fractures were collected by analyzing the postmortem records of hanging cases over an interval of four years from 2009–2012. The presence of hyoid fractures was found to be very rare in cases where cause of death was attributed to hanging.