Postmortem Study of Hyoid Bone Frcture in Cases of Antemortem Hanging

Hanging is a common method of suicide in India. During autopsy of hanging cases, hyoid becomes one of the integral parts of examination. Many previous research studies in the forensic literature have reported considerable difference in frequency of hyoid fracture in hanging cases. Beside this, there is also lack of unanimity of opinion regarding the relation of different variables of hanging with the hyoid fracture except age of the deceased.

The present study is a retrospective analysis of all cases of death due to hanging brought to the department of Forensic Medicine, Assam Medical College & Hospital for medicolegal autopsy from 1^st June, 2012 to 31^st May, 2013, The purpose of the study is to evaluate the incidence and pattern of hyoid fracture in the study group and relation of 6 different variables of hanging with the hyoid fracture viz. age, sex, nature of ligature material, level of ligature mark, position of knot and manner of suspension of body.