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Lesions and characteristic injury patterns caused by high-voltage fault arcs

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International Journal of Legal Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Exposure to high-voltage electric arcs as a result of an accident or by means to commit suicide can affect people’s health and cause death. There are characteristic external findings that can be found on external examination. These include extensive skin burns, periorbital recesses or “crow’s feet,” vapor deposition of conductor material, known as metallization, and tightly spaced, roundish, crocodile skin like burns. The Institute of Legal Medicine of the Rostock University Medical Center recorded 16 deaths caused by exposure to electricity between 1990 and 2018. Six of these deaths were caused by exposure to high-voltage electric arcs and five of these deaths (83 %) showed crocodile skin like burns and one had periorbital recesses burns on the face as a result of a fault arc. To our knowledge, the present paper is the first report describing the frequent occurrence of crocodile skin like burns due to high-voltage fault arcs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Legal Medicine, Rostock University Medical Center, 18055, Rostock, Germany

    F. Zack, A. Dalchow, V. Blaas & Andreas Büttner

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Technical University Ilmenau, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Str. 1, 98693, Ilmenau, Germany

    H. Schau & M. Rock

Authors
  1. F. Zack
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  2. H. Schau
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  3. A. Dalchow
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  4. M. Rock
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  5. V. Blaas
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  6. Andreas Büttner
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Correspondence to Andreas Büttner.

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Zack, F., Schau, H., Dalchow, A. et al. Lesions and characteristic injury patterns caused by high-voltage fault arcs. Int J Legal Med 134, 1353–1359 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02173-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02173-3

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