Medicine
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This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty
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Item A Study on victims of intimate partner violence reported to Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka during 2019-2021(Academic Forensic Pathology International, La Jolla, CA, 2022) Muthulingam, T.; Edirisinghe, P.A.S.; Wijewardhane, H.P.; Thivaharan, Y.; Jayasundara, M.M.S.; Borukgama, N.; Kulathunga, D.L.; Alwis, D.N.; Govinnage, P.S.; Kitulwatte, I.D.G.Introduction: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a common issue in any society and the reported cases are just the tip of an iceberg as most of the victims are reluctant to come to the criminal justice system. Forensic experts are often encountering the victims who chose to seek justice. Evaluation of the nature, consequences, and underlying factors are needed in planning preventive measures. Objectives: To describe the patterns and associated factors of IPV among victims who reported to Office of the Judicial Medical Officer of Colombo North Teaching Hospital and to specifically describe the patterns prior and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study based on 471 medicolegal records of the victims who had undergone medicolegal examination following IPV during last two years (March 2019 to February 2021). Results: Out of 471, 206 cases were reported prepandemic and 265 reported postpandemic periods. Even though majority were females there were 21 males. Types of abuse were complex and often interrelated. There were 463 who had experienced physical injuries while there were 20 who had been subjected to sexual violence. Face was the commonest target of assault (63%). Substance abuse was identified as the commonest predisposing factor (56%). Even though repeated abuse was common, 42.5% of the victims had never made any complaints to the police. Despite multiple complains, 39.7% had experienced repeated violence. Conclusion: Victims of IPV are silently suffering for many long years. Failure in the response from authorities was identified. COVID-19 pandemic has become an additional risk factor for IPV. Strengthening of legal and social responses is the need of the hour.Item Trends and challenges of facial trauma presented for medico legal examination(South India Medicolegal Association, 2018) Kitulwatte, I.D.G.; Edirisinghe, P.A.S.ABSTRACT: Maxillofacial injuries occur in a significant proportion of medico-legal cases and pose a challenge when forming a medico legal opinion at times. The penal code of Sri Lanka identifies disfiguration to the head or face as a form of grievous hurt. The study was conducted to analyze the pattern, magnitude and the medico-legal challenges of maxillofacial trauma in victims presented for medico-legal examination in a Teaching Hospital in Sri Lanka. A retrospective analysis was done on maxillofacial trauma presented for medico-legal examination during a period of 2 years. Out of the 460 cases of maxillofacial trauma 370 (80%) were males while there were 90 (20%) females. 264 (57%) were due to assaults while there were 172(37 %) following road traffic accidents. Blunt soft tissue injuries were observed in a majorityi.e.: 310 (67%). Forehead was identified as the commonest area of injury 262(57%). Commonest associated injuries were found on limbs, (27%) Isolated facial injuries were observed in 176, (38%) while a majority (62 %) of them were non grievous. There were 20 (11%) isolated facial injuries in which the category of hurt was not ascertained but a remark on possible facial disfiguration was made. Facial injuries were commonly reported following assaults and a majority of them were blunt soft tissue injuries. Providing a strong medico legal opinion on the category of hurt in facial trauma is a challenge for the medical experts due to the difficulties in determining possible facial disfiguration. © 2018 South India Medico-Legal Association. All rights reserved.Item A Retrospective analysis of facial injuries in victims of road traffic fatalities.(Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine at University of Peradeniya, 2018) Paranitharan, P.; Perera, W.N.S.; Perera, A.A.B.S.; Paranavithana, S.S.; Samanpura, L.ABSTRACT: Facial injuries play a significant role when it comes to medico-legal interpretation, category of hurt, cause of death and for compensation purposes. Road traffic accidents had been identified as a major contributor towards facial injuries. The main objectives were to identify the different facial injuries such as abrasions, contusions, lacerations and fractures, injury pattern, the distribution and to correlate the facial injuries with vulnerable road users. A pre-prepared questionnaire was used to extract information from the autopsy reports of road traffic accidents involving 59 victims covering a period from 2005 to 2014. Majority of the victims were males (79.7%) and belonging to the age group of 21-30 (22%) and 41-50 (22%). The vulnerable road users were mostly pedestrians (39%), followed by motorcycle riders (28.8%). Only few (6.8%) of the victims had teeth injuries. Most of the victims had injuries on the right forehead (44%) and right peri-orbital area (37.3%). The commonest type of facial injuries were abrasions which were 44 (grazed abrasions 30.5% and other types of abrasions 44.1%) followed by lacerations 38 (64.4%). The most common injuries on the right forehead were abrasions (20.3%) and lacerations (16.9%) while on the right peri-orbital area it was contusions (18.6 %). Majority of the victims were pedestrians and motor cycle riders. Most of the injuries were observed on the right forehead and right peri-orbital region and the commonest facial injury type was abrasions. A specific type of injury pattern was not identified to retrospectively suggest the involvement of a pedestrian or others.