Traumatic basal ganglia hematoma in a fatal traffic accident victim.

ABSTRACT

A 41-year-old male driver involved in a fatal traffic accident presented with a basal ganglia hematoma on postmortem computed tomographic imaging. Clinicians could not exclude the possibility of non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage as the underlying cause of the traffic accident. However, analysis of the head injuries showed that the hematoma was caused by an impact to the front-parietal region directed toward the tentorium. The absence of hypertensive arteriolar changes and hemosiderin deposits in the brain supported the traumatic origin of the hematoma.