Department of Forensic Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Korea. sanghan1@mail.knu.ac.kr

Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency, Daegu, Korea.

Traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (T-SAH) is said to be typically occurred in a young, healthy, but intoxicated man who receives a minor blow, immediately collapses, and dies within minutes. Sixteen forensic cases of T-SAH were analysed in the point of time of collapse, blood alcohol level, injured site, vascular rupture sites, and sentenced servitude. Majority of the cases (12 cases) were autopsied in the department of Kyungpook National University. Two cases of National Institute of Scientific Investigation, South District Office and 1 case of Jeju National University were added. Autopsy was not done in one case. There were 14 male and 2 female victims. The peak age were their forties (7 cases) and under twenties (7 cases). The time of incident was most often at night. The survival time from the time of trauma until death indicates that 62.5% (10 victims) died immediately from the assault, 12.5% (2 victims) died within 30 minutes. Blood alcohol was detected in 11 cases (68.8%), and mean blood alcohol level was 0.16% (0.08-0.22%). The damage was generated to the facial region, especially around the jaw and below the ears (7 cases), and temporal areas (4 cases). Bleeding foci were detected in 7 cases; basilar artery (2 cases), left vertebral artery (2 cases), and right vertebral artery (3 cases). Meticulous autopsy techniques for identifying the vascular rupture sites are required. The author conclude that tremendous emphasis must be placed on the fact that fatal T-SAH can occur due to minor facial trauma and social campaign for alerting people to the danger of T-SAH is needed.

Key Words : Traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage, Sudden death