Abstract

Traffic accidents are one of the main causes of injuries and deaths in the general population, it has been described that approximately 60% of deaths from traffic accidents are caused by head trauma, diffuse axonal damage is a cause frequent coma and severe disability after head trauma, among the most important findings in the legal medical autopsy at the macroscopic level are the petechiae in the corpus callosum, hemorrhages in white matter, among others and at the microscopic level disseminated reactive axonal swelling. In this article, a case of diffuse axonal damage secondary to a traffic accident will be discussed, and a review of the subject will be carried out covering the most important points to be taken into account from the legal medical point of view.

Key words: Traffic accidents; head trauma; axonal diffuse injury.