Resumen

DURAO, Carlos Henrique; LUCAS, Francisco Manuel  y  VIEIRA, Duarte Nuno. Aspectos forenses das lesões ortopédicas nos atropelamentos. Rev. Port. Ortop. Traum. [online]. 2014, vol.22, n.2, pp.19-32. ISSN 1646-2122.

Road traffic accidents (RTA) are a serious public health problem with pedestrians the ones with the highest rate of death and disability. RTA are responsible for complex fractures that challenge the orthopaedic surgeon as well as burden the healthcare systems and insurers with costly treatments, long rehabilitation periods and often requiring compensation. Biomechanic studies have a relevant role in injury prevention developing safety mechanisms and in accident reconstruction. One of the distinctive landmarks in Road Safety is the percentge of pedestrians victims of RTA considering that in countries with low developing indexes pedestrians and vehicles share the same space. This paper presents concepts from expert forensics: the main mechanisms of collision between vehicles and pedestrians and it's corresponding injuries, establishing a link between what an orthopaedic surgeon observes in the emergency department and what the coroner verifies in autopsy and tries to bring to our attention serious injuries that go undiagnosed in time.

Palabras clave : Forensic Traumatology; road traffic accidents; road injuries.

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