Identification and differential diagnosis of traumatic lesions of the skeleton

Abstract

The relationship between forensic anthropology and dry skeletal pathology has been a very useful tool in the investigation of violence, especially in a political context, and human rights violations. The interdisciplinary work between forensic anthropologists and osteopathologists is vital because the autopsy of an individual who died under arrest or other unclear circumstances is one of the most problematic tasks in legal medicine. To perform this type of research, it is necessary to adapt, in some way, to the Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment-the Istanbul Protocol (1999) and in some cases, to the UN Manual of the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions(1991). © 2006 Humana Press Inc.