The role of new potential biomarker for medicolegal aging of wounds

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Forensic medicine and clinical toxicology department, Faculty of medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef , Egypt

2 orthopedic surgery department, Faculty of medicine, Beni-suef University, Beni-suef

Abstract

Background: Estimating the age of a wound is crucial in the realm of forensic medicine. Determining the age and liveliness of a wound is essential for the appropriate handling of legal procedures. Objective: to evaluate the myostatin marker's usefulness in determining the age of medicolegal wounds. Methods: This cross-sectional investigation on the ante-mortem aging of surgically non-complicated wounds was conducted at the general and orthopedic surgery departments of Beni Suef University Hospital. 56 participants were divided evenly into two equal groups: Group B involved muscle injuries while Group A involved bone injuries. Each participant had blood drawn nine times following surgery: before and after zero (pre-operative), twenty-four hours, thirty-six hours, forty-eight hours, seventy-two hours, eighty-four hours, ninety-six hours, ninety-six hours, and one hundred and sixty hours (post-operative).  Results: Over the course of the five days, there were notable (P < 0.001) increases in myostatin levels, peaking 36 hours after the wound (3.73±0.42) as opposed to the bone injury group's zero time (2.07±0.76). Additionally, across the course of the five days, there were notable (P < 0.001) increases, with the muscle injury group's peak being reached 24 hours after the wounding (1.94±0.71) as opposed to the zero time (1.45±0.40). Conclusion: myostatin can be used to assess medicolegal wound age in bone and muscle injuries.

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