CHARACTERIZATION OF MORFOLOGICAL MANIFISTATIONS OF ABDOMINAL TRAUMA AS PART OF FATAL POLYTRAUMA COMPARING CHILDREN SUBGROUPS OF DIFFERENT AGE AND ADULTS

Abstract

The paper presents a study of morphological manifestations of abdominal trauma, based on the results of forensic analysis of 289 children’s and 227 adults’ corpses. A comparative evaluation of the frequency of different single stomach lesions and the total number of them was provided for three age-based subgroups of children and a group of adults who had the two most common types of blunt polytrauma - road accidents (hit by car, run over by car and injury while staying onside a car) and a fall from a height. It was found that when a fatal blunt abdominal polytrauma occurs, abdominal injuries (also taking into account the skin lesions) in children are less common than in adults. Abdominal cavity and retroperitoneal space injuries in both groups were observed with the same frequency. However, in cases of abdominal injuries children have significantly smaller amount of damage then adults. The least amount of damage was observed in the subgroup of children under 3 years of age. Damages of the muscles and ligaments that fixate the internal organs while shock loads - (falling from a height or being hit by car) are more common in children than in adults.