Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 45 No. 1, 2006.
Original scientific paper
Histologic Analysis of Pig Muscle Tissue after Wounding with a High-Velocity Projectile - Preliminary Report
Želimir Korać
Suad Crnica
Vida Demarin
Abstract
Terminal ballistics of high-velocity projectiles is focused primarily on evaluation of the effects of penetrating projectiles on tissue simulants, but there is always a question of their similarity with live tissue. Ethical problems related to using live animals in terminal ballistic researches have resulted in a reduced number of these experiments. The aim of this study was to analyze histologic effects of high-velocity missiles in swine muscle tissue. The hypothesis was that a penetrating projectile caused tissue lesions that could be observed at various distance and at various levels of damage around the wound channel. Hind legs of pigs killed for commercial purposes were used in the study. The time span between killing of pigs and shooting was not longer than half an hour. The shots were made with a Russian AK-74 assault rifle (5.45 mm). A total of 30 fresh swine cadaver legs of an average weight of 15 kg were shot from a distance of 8.5 m. Samples of muscle tissue along the wound channel were collected and analyzed under a light microscope at Department of Histology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb. Muscle tissue analysis revealed four types of findings: normal findings of skeletal muscle, edema between muscle fibers without rupture or bleeding, rupture of individual fibers with bleeding in the interstitium, and massive destruction of muscle fibers with bleeding. Accordingly, the effects of high-velocity projectiles on muscular tissue can be histologically identified in various forms, from edemas to muscle fiber destruction accompanied by bleeding in the interstitium. The extent of particular lesions depends on the distance from the wound channel and projectile behavior.
Keywords
Wounds, gunshot - physiopathology; Wounds, gunshot - therapy; Wounds, penetrating - diagnosis; Muscles - pathology; Military medicine - methods; Comparative study; War; Animals
Hrčak ID:
14017
URI
Publication date:
1.3.2006.
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