The missing link. An unusual case of embolization.

ABSTRACT

Embolization is a well-recognized phenomenon in medicine and forensic pathology and generally involves formed blood elements, bone, air, amniotic fluid, or more exotic items such as bullets. We report the embolization of a chain-saw link. The case demonstrates how, without complete autopsy and investigation, a penetrating sharp-force injury could be misdiagnosed and a false conclusion as to the commission of a crime could occur. Although the forensic literature is replete with examples of bizarre emboli, from bullets to suspected crystals of methylmethacrylate, a literature review failed to find a single case of penetrating chain-saw-link injury as a cause of traumatic death. Most reports of chain-saw incidents cite accidental injuries to hands and arms or dramatic facial injuries due to entrapment and recoil (1,2). One fatality occurred from a skull fracture and cerebral injury when a 19-year-old man fell onto a saw.