POSTMORTEM SKELETAL LESIONS

Postmortem bone alterations are very frequent and can raise the issue of their nature (antemortem, perimortem or postmortem defects). The ai m of this work is to study various aspects of defects which were not a ssessed as perimortem trauma, from a series of 50 defects examined, re sulting from 24 forensic cases. This study emphasizes the variability of size, shape and number of postmortem defects. Usually the diagnosis of antemortem defects is helped by a careful examination of some char acteristics as the edges of the defects, the areas of discoloration of the edges and of the whole bone. Elsewhere it appears very difficult to know the true nature (antemortem, postmortem, or perimortem alterat ions) of the bone. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.