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FORENSIC PATHOLOGY - UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA

FATAL HEAD INJURY IN MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF 37 AUTOPSIES

BY DR. RAZUIN BINTI RAHIMI

A research report in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Pathology

MASTER OF PATHOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY FACULTY OF MEDICINE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2009

Author’s note For ease of reading, the convention is used throughout this study, except where obviously inappropriate, that where the masculine gender is used, the feminine is intended to be equally applicable.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank my immediate supervisor, Dr. Prashant N Samberkar; and my lecturers – Professor Dr. Looi Lai Meng, Associate Professor Dr. R I Krishnan and Dr. Patricia Ann Chandran for their valuable advice and priceless guidance in undertaking this dissertation. I would also like to express my gratitude to my former supervisor, Dr. Mohd Shah Mahmood; my mentor Dr. Rohayu Shahar Adnan; and all the staff at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Ministry of Health for all knowledge shared and assistance lent during my 17-month attachment there. To Miss Ruhaida Rahimi who has kindly lent me her hands in fabricating the colourful charts, I thank you.

CONTENT:

Pages 

 List of tables and figures



Chapter 1 : Introduction

1

Chapter 2 : Methodology

11

Chapter 3 : Results

18

Chapter 4 : Discussions

33

Chapter 5 : Conclusions

37

References

40

               

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1.3:

Causes of death in motor vehicle accident autopsies in 2006 at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Table 3.1:

Motor vehicle accident statistics based on ethnicity and nationality

Figure 1.1:

Motor vehicle accidents and fatalities in Kuala Lumpur

Figure 1.2:

Autopsy cases for road traffic accidents recorded by National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Figure 1.3:

Causes of death in motor vehicle accident autopsies in 2006 at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Figure 2.1:

Number of cases for 3-month period in 2006 at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Figure 2.2:

Brain cuts after fixing in 4% formaldehyde for 2 weeks

Figure 2.3:

Brain section laid for photography

Figure 3.1:

Motor vehicle accident statistics based on age group

Figure 3.2:

Motor vehicle accident statistics based on category of road user

Figure 3.3:

Motor vehicle accident statistics based on post incident interval

Figure 3.4:

Causes of death in the study subjects

Figure 3.5:

Motor vehicle accident statistics based on injuries sustained and

interval time of death Figure 3.6:

Craniocerebral injuries in all subjects

Figure 3.7:

Haemorrhage with axonal bulbs on H & E stain

Figure 3.8:

Haemorrhage with axonal injury as demonstrated by pinkish small retraction balls

Figure 3.9:

Darkly stained axonal bulbs using Bielchowsky silver method

Figure 3.10: Axonal bulbs with a few swollen axons

  





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