Characteristics of gunshot wounds in the skull

The analysis of trauma to the skeleton is an important aspect of forensic c ase work, but most pathology references devote limited attention to this to pic. This paper describes various aspects of gunshot wounds, including entr ance and exit patterns, angle and path, range of fire and. velocity, and ca liber of the bullet, based on observations of a series of known cases. Skel etal remains of 21 victims of gunshot wounds were studied. In most cases, t here was documentation of the investigation, autopsy, and victim's identity . Each case was analyzed in terms of wound location, shape, size and exit/e ntry surface area ratio, beveling, and direction of shooting. Skull entry w ounds were most often round or oval. Unusual shapes were observed in bones like the mandible and mastoid process, but were also found to be triangular , nearly rectangular or irregular. Tunneling was observed in the mastoid pr ocess. The expected internal beveling was obvious in all but one skull. Ext ernal beveling of an entry wound was only observed in one case (parietal bo ne). Exit wounds were roughly round, oval, square, and rectangular and were always more irregular than entry wounds. External beveling of exit wounds was observed inmost vault bones, but there was none in the orbit, maxilla, greater wing of the sphenoid, temporal, or left occipital bone. Tangential gunshot wounds were seen in a mastoid process, zygomatic process, mandibula r ramus and condyle, and occipital condyle. Most of the exit to entry surfa ce area ratios (cm(2)) varied from 1.4 to 2.0. In four cases the ratio indi cated that entrances were larger than exists. In conclusion, understanding of gunshot wound characteristics is an important matter to interpret distan ce, velocity, direction and sometimes caliber size. Assessment of this natu re of gunshot wounds helps reconstruct events surrounding the death.