Visual and spectrophotometric observations related to histology in a small sample of bruises from cadavers.

Spectrophotometry has been investigated as a means to estimate the age of bruises as experiments have indicated that it can be used to detect the presence of degradation products of hemoglobin (bilirubin and hemosiderin). However, there is no data relating spectrophotometric observations to histological findings in bruises of human skin. A small number of bruises in human cadavers were studied by spectrophotometry.

Use of reflectance spectrophotometry and colorimetry in a general linear model for the determination of the age of bruises.

Bruises can have medicolegal significance such that the age of a bruise may be an important issue. This study sought to determine if colorimetry or reflectance spectrophotometry could be employed to objectively estimate the age of bruises. Based on a previously described method, reflectance spectrophotometric scans were obtained from bruises using a Cary 100 Bio spectrophotometer fitted with a fibre-optic reflectance probe.