Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume 16, Issue 5 , Pages 248-252, July 2009

Ligature strangulation deaths in the province of Konya (Turkey)☆

  • Serafettin Demirci, MD (Assist. Prof.)

      Affiliations

    • Department of Forensic Medicine, Meram Medical School, Selcuk University, 42080 Konya, Turkey
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +90 332 223 6752; fax: +90 332 223 6181.
    • ,
  • Kamil Hakan Dogan, MD (Assist. Prof.)

      Affiliations

    • Department of Forensic Medicine, Meram Medical School, Selcuk University, 42080 Konya, Turkey
    • ,
  • Zerrin Erkol, MD (Prof.)

      Affiliations

    • Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Abant Izzet Baysal University, 14280 Bolu, Turkey
    • ,
  • Gursel Gunaydin, MD (Assist. Prof.)

      Affiliations

    • Department of Forensic Medicine, Meram Medical School, Selcuk University, 42080 Konya, Turkey

Received 8 February 2008; received in revised form 11 November 2008; accepted 9 December 2008.

Abstract 

In the present study, deaths by ligature strangulation in the province of Konya (Turkey) were evaluated from the medicolegal point of view between 2001 and 2006. In total 2850 medicolegal death cases, 161 (5.65%) were resulted from asphyxia and 20 (12.4%) of the deaths due to asphyxia were cases of ligature strangulation. Male:female ratio of the victims was 1:1 with ages ranging from 1.5 to 70 years and a mean age of 37.22±19.28 years. 17 cases (85%) were of homicidal and 3 cases (15%) of suicidal origin. The most widely used ligature material was clothesline in 6 cases (30%). On the examination of neck structures, thyroid cartilage fracture was present in 7 (35%) cases, fracture of the hyoid bone in 3 cases (15%), fracture both of the thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone in 1 case (5%), only ecchymosis in soft tissues in 7 cases (35%). In the paper, the findings determined in our cases are discussed in the light of the literature on the subject.

Keywords: Ligature strangulation, Homicide, Suicide

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☆ Presented at the 5th Congress of the Balkan Academy of Forensic Sciences, Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia, June 3–7, 2007.

PII: S1752-928X(08)00237-0

doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.12.013

Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume 16, Issue 5 , Pages 248-252, July 2009

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