Citation

Kumar V, Mohanty MK, Kanth S. J. Clin. Forensic Med. 2006; 14(1): 3-6.

Affiliation

Department of Pathology (Forensic Unit), Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jcfm.2005.09.002

PMID

17046310

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to record and evaluate the causes and the magnitude of the fatal burn injuries retrospectively. An analysis of autopsy records revealed 19.4% cases of burn injuries amongst the total autopsies done over 10years period (1993-2002) in the mortuary of the department of Forensic Medicine of Kasturba medical College, Manipal. The majority of deaths (78.5%) occurred between 11 and 40years of age group with preponderance of females (74.8%). The flame burns were seen in 94.1% of the victims followed by scalds and electrical burns in 2.8% and 2.5% cases, respectively. The majority of burn incidents were accidental (75.8%) in nature followed by suicidal (11.5%) and homicidal (3.1%) deaths. The percentage of burn (TBSA) over 40% were observed in most of the cases (92.5%). The majority of deaths occurred within a week (69.87%) and most the victims died because of septicemia (50.9%).

Language: en