Advances in the diagnosis of wound vitality - A review

The diagnosis of the vital origin of wounds in many cases remains an unsolv ed problem for the forensic pathologist. Practical experience enables the e xpert to diagnose the vital or postmortem origin of wounds on the basis of macroscopic examination. In some cases, optic microscopy is used to confirm the diagnosis. In many other cases, additional more sensitive and specific markers of vitality are required. In the past 50 years, comprehensive rese arch on this topic has resulted in a better understanding of the acute infl ammatory reaction. The development and application of sensitive and specifi c markers through research in the areas of histochemistry, enzymology, and biochemistry has provided a partial solution to the problems involved in wo und vitality diagnosis. A review of this challenging area of forensic patho logy, including an explanation of these methods and markers, is presented i n this paper.