Postmortem MSCT Diagnosis of Whiplash Injuries in a Traffic Accident：A Case Report and Review of the Literature

A 45-year-old male car driver died in a traffic accident of four cars rear-end collision on the highway.He was found to have died after a respiratory and cardiac arrest at the scene.No sign of skin injuries was observed from the external inspection.The autopsy was not permitted by the family members because of the local culture.Multislice computed tomography(MSCT)was applied to the current case,showing dislocation of C3~4cervical vertebrae withⅡdegree,C4vertebral plate fractures,and spinal stenosis.Post-mortem MSCT confirmed the diagnosis as whiplash injuries.MSCT was verified to be effective in showing the severity of whiplash injuries,thus providing certain objective evidence for medicolegal expertise.

A 45-year-old male car driver died in a traffic accident of four cars rear-end collision on the highway. He was found to have died after a respiratory and cardiac arrest at the scene. No sign of skin injuries was observed from the external inspection. The autopsy was not permitted by the family members because of the local culture. Multislice computed tomography （MSCT） was applied to the current case, showing dislocation of C3.4 cervical vertebrae with 1I degree, C4 vertebral plate fractures, and spinal stenosis. Post-mortem MSCT confirmed the diagnosis as whiplash injuries. MSCT was verified to be effective in showing the severity of whiplash injuries, thus providing certain objective evidence for medicolegal expertise.