Histopathological Study of Skin and Subcutaneous Tissues at Ligature Mark in Cases of Hanging and Strangulation

Deaths due to asphyxia are one of the most important causes of violent deaths amongst which hanging and strangulation are commonly encountered in day to day autopsy. The ligature mark around the victim's neck is an extremely important piece of evidence to arrive at a conclusion as to the cause of death whether hanging or strangulation, though on some rare occasions, the forensic pathologist finds it problematic to opine confirmatively about the cause and manner of death.

The purpose of the study is know the histopathological findings of skin and subcutaneous structures of ligature mark with regard to the type of hanging and ligature strangulation.

A cross sectional study of a total of 105 cases of hanging and ligature strangulation was conducted in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Victoria Hospital over a period of 20 months from November 2009 to June 2011. Data was collected by histopathology of skin sample and analyzed.

Of the 109 cases studied, hanging constitutes 105 cases (96%) and ligature strangulation constitutes 04 cases (4%). The microscopic study of ligature mark revealed that compression of epidermis and flattening of cells in 93 cases (88.6%) of hanging and 3 cases (75%) of strangulation and Collagen condensation in 97 cases (92.4%) of hanging and 3 cases (75%) of strangulation.

The present study will be of great help in establishing the cause of death from the histopathological studies of the soft tissues of the neck as well as ante-mortem v/s postmortem aspects of such cases.