A STUDY OF THE PATTERN OF CRANIO-FACIAL INJURIES IN FATAL ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN TRIPURA

Road traffic accidents are one of the major causes of morbidity & mortality especially in developing countries including India. Craniofacial injuries are the most common injuries found in fatal road traffic accidents. The objective of present study was to analyze the pattern of craniofacial injuries in these fatal accidents. The study was conducted at the mortuary of AGMC, Agartala during the period of July 2011 to June 2013. During this period 196 victims of fatal road traffic accident were autopsied. In the present study the male female ratio of victims was found to be 3.74:1. Most of the victims in the present study belonged to the age group of 21 to 30 years. Mechanized four wheelers (52.04%) were the commonest offending vehicle. Most of the death occurred in the month of November during office hours. Data analysis suggests that most commonly affected victims were the pedestrians with a total number of 84 cases (42.85%) followed by the motor cyclists with a total number of 41 cases (20.91%). Most common intracranial hemorrhage was SDH and fissured fracture of the skull bone was the commonest fracture found.