MORPHOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN THE BRAIN AFTER EXPERIMENTAL GUNSHOTS USINGRADIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY AND HISTOLOGY

The tissue disruption inside the brain after experimental gunshots: to the head was investigated with special reference to secondary bone mi ssiles and intracranial pressure effects such as cortical contusion an d deep intracerebral haemorrhages. The evidential value of various exa mination methods is compared, 9 mm Parabellum ammunition was fired to the temporal region of calves (n = 10) from a distance of 0-10 cm. Pla in film radiography, CT MRI, visual inspection and histology were perf ormed on every brain. The tissue disruption of the permanent tract is delineated best by artefact-free MRI. Cortical confusions and deep int racerebral haemorrhages were detected infrequently by visual inspectio n and imaging techniques although they were present in every brain as verified by histology, These injuries remote from the tract increase c erebral wounding compared to non-confined tissue. In particular, the b rain stem and central areas were frequent sites of haemorrhages, which can be expected to have serious and immediate consequences. Ectopic b one fragments were found in all brains using CT scans. Bone fragments were located inside clearly enlarged permanent tracts or were driven i nto brain tissue, in the latter cases, secondary shot channels up to 4 cm in length could be verified by histology. Cortical contusions and intracerebral haemorrhages can only be detected reliably by histology. The localization of bone fragments requires CT scans. Therefore, a de tailed examination is accomplished best by a combination of the method s applied in this study.