Study of Pattern of Injuries in Deaths due to Blunt Abdominal Trauma in Road Traffic Accident victims

An autopsy study of deaths due to blunt abdominal trauma in victims of road traffic accidents was done at Department of Forensic Medicine, BMC&RI, Bangalore, with an aim to know the demographic trends and pattern of injuries. Data was collected from January 2008 to August 2008 and results were analysed. Eighty three cases of deaths due to blunt abdominal trauma in RTA were studied. Males constituted 85.56% and young population constituted the bulk (45.83%). Majority of the victims were pedestrians (42.16%) and heavy motor vehicles were the most offending factor amounting to 51.8%. Liver, kidney, mesentery and splenic injuries were present in 22.81%, 17.4%, 16.50% and 8.5% of the cases respectively. In liver, 23.59% showed transcapsular laceration with irregular/multiple pattern of laceration, among splenic injury avulsed/shattered laceration was the most common pattern present in 68.7% of cases and renal contusion were present in 76.4% of cases. Within an hour of the accident 51.8% of the victims died and 13.8% in next 6 hours.