Fatality due to chest injury in road traffic accident victims of Varanasi and Adjoining Districts, U.P.

Abstract

In our country motor vehicle accidents rank on the top among all fatal accidents. An accident represents a major epidemic of noncommunicable disease in the present century. Road Traffic Accident (RTA) provides some 30% or more of the average forensic autopsy load of Varanasi region. Chest injuries in combination with other regional injuries (61.76%) were the next commonest injuries in fatal road traffic accident cases next to head injuries in present study. The greater frequency of fatality in the regional injury i.e. chest injuries was due to involvement of two vital organs viz. heart and lungs. In chest injury, the majority of cases were found with lung injuries (81.30%) and it was followed by injury to heart (43.08%). Major great vessels were injured in (21.95%) of deceased. The abdominal injuries were mostly found associated with chest injuries. Liver was injured in 12.19% victims. Syncopal death (haemorrhagic shock) along with asphyxia was the commonst mode of death (30.08%) followed by asphyxia (27.64%) alone. More than two third (69.91%) victims died at the incidence place. Mostly the victims succumbed to fatal chest injuries in road traffic accidents amongst the all kinds of accidental injuries.