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A Test Bed to Examine Helmet Fit and Retention and Biomechanical Measures of Head and Neck Injury in Simulated Impact
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The deadly broomstick: an unusual missile injury to the neck

Stephan Bolliger1, Thomas Plattner, Ulrich Zollinger

  • 1Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Berne, Switzerland. stephan.bolliger@irm.unibe.ch

The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology
|November 30, 2006
PubMed

A 51-year-old man was struck by the tip of a broomstick weighing 1000 g at the left side of the neck, upon which he collapsed. Intense but delayed cardiopulmonary resuscitation restored the circulation roughly 30 minutes after the incident. Upon admittance to a nearby hospital, an extensive hypoxic cerebral damage was diagnosed. Death due to the severe cerebral damage occurred 5 hours after the incident. An autopsy demonstrated a severe subcutaneous traumatization of the left side of the neck, with a hemorrhage compressing the carotid bifurcation. A prolonged excitation due to this ongoing compression of the baroreceptors in the carotid sinus was assumed to have led to a cardiac arrest. In this case report, the authors discuss the underlying pathophysiology of this potentially lethal and rare reflexogenic incident also known as the Hering reflex and discuss possible therapeutic measures.

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