Acute Lethal Trauma of the Trunk

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Abstract
Correctness of the clinical diagnoses of victims who died of an acute lethal injury of the trunk was investigated. A clinicopathologic comparison of the injuries at the time of death and severity of the trauma complex was made. About 80% of all lethal injuries, 70% of the associated severe lesions and 80% of the other more minor injuries were correctly diagnosed by clinical means with an overall accuracy of 74.5%. When victims were dead on arrival, 50% of the injuries were diagnosed by plain physical examination. When the patient died within 24 h, 80% of the injuries were clinically diagnosed. When the patient died between 1 and 7 days postinjury, the rate was 90%. Injuries of the heart and great intrathoracic vessels, ruptures of the liver and spleen and medullary contusions remained most often undiagnosed in patients who died within a few hours. Of all clinically diagnosed injuries, of which 1 was severe, 5.7% were not noted at autopsy.

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