Cervical arterial injury after strangulation--different types of arterial lesions.

After strangulation, cervical arterial injuries (CAI) are uncommon. We report three unusual cases where strangulation induced immediate stroke. CAI were examined using brain CT scan and Doppler ultrasonography in the three cases and then by autopsy in one of the victims.

A brain penetration after Taser injury: controversies regarding Taser gun safety.

We report the case of a 27 year old man who was injured by a Taser gun device which penetrated the frontal part of the skull and damaged the underlying frontal lobe. Cerebral penetration was revealed by a brain CT scan. A neurosurgical procedure was required to remove the dart from the skull and brain and the evolution was successful allowing discharge of the patient one week later.

[Post-transfusion hepatitis C. From screening to compensation].

In France, during the last decades preceding the 1990s, 100,000 to 400,000 blood recipients may have been infected by hepatitis C. Since 1990, thanks to advances in transfusion safety, the risk of hepatitis C contamination has become extremely low. Given the natural history of the disease, it can be a long time unnoticed.

Fatal poisoning due to snorting buprenorphine and alcohol consumption.

High dosage buprenorphine (Subutex(®)) has been prescribed as a replacement therapy for major opioid dependencies in France since 1996. However, several studies have underlined its lethal risk, especially when administered intravenously, or when combined with benzodiazepines, alcohol or other central nervous system depressants. We report three fatal buprenorphine-related poisonings after snorting, among outside protocol individuals, observed at the Forensic Medicine Unit of Caen University Hospital.