Comparison of porcine thorax to gelatine blocks for wound ballistics studies

Abstract

Tissue simulants are typically used in ballistic testing as substitutes for biological tissues. Many simulants have been used, with gelatine amongst the most common. While two concentrations of gelatine (10 and 20 %) have been used extensively, no agreed standard exists for the preparation of either. Comparison of ballistic damage produced in both concentrations is lacking. The damage produced in gelatine is also questioned, with regards to what it would mean for specific areas of living tissue. The aim of the work discussed in this paper was to consider how damage caused by selected pistol and rifle ammunition varied in different simulants. Damage to gelatine blocks 10 and 20 % in concentration were tested with 9 mm Luger (9 × 19 full metal jacket; FMJ) rounds, while damage produced by .223 Remington (5.56 × 45 Federal Premium® Tactical® Bonded®) rounds to porcine thorax sections (skin, underlying tissue, ribs, lungs, ribs, underlying tissue, skin; backed by a block of 10 % gelatine) were compared to 10 and 20 % gelatine blocks. Results from the .223 Remington rifle round, which is one that typically expands on impact, revealed depths of penetration in the thorax arrangement were significantly different to 20 % gelatine, but not 10 % gelatine. The level of damage produced in the simulated thoraxes was smaller in scale to that witnessed in both gelatine concentrations, though greater debris was produced in the thoraxes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00414-015-1309-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Influence of rib impact on thoracic gunshot trauma

“…No significant variance in trajectory or the degree of fragmentation was found between rib and intercostal impacts, suggesting that TGT is similar whether or not the projectile hits the rib. This contrasts the conclusions of Mabbott et al ,15 who compared plain gelatin blocks with porcine thoraxes, observed greater bullet fragmentation in the thorax groups and suggested that bone impact may increase bullet fragmentation 15. Differences in target composition and ammunition could account for the difference in observations here—thoracic samples in Mabbott et al ’s study comprised two porcine thoracic walls with skin and subcutaneous soft tissue and a lung in-between15 whereas our model only used one layer of ribs.…”

“…This contrasts the conclusions of Mabbott et al ,15 who compared plain gelatin blocks with porcine thoraxes, observed greater bullet fragmentation in the thorax groups and suggested that bone impact may increase bullet fragmentation 15. Differences in target composition and ammunition could account for the difference in observations here—thoracic samples in Mabbott et al ’s study comprised two porcine thoracic walls with skin and subcutaneous soft tissue and a lung in-between15 whereas our model only used one layer of ribs. Although Mabbott et al ’s model provides a more realistic representation of the thorax, their study did not focus on the effect of anatomical impact site 15.…”

“…Differences in target composition and ammunition could account for the difference in observations here—thoracic samples in Mabbott et al ’s study comprised two porcine thoracic walls with skin and subcutaneous soft tissue and a lung in-between15 whereas our model only used one layer of ribs. Although Mabbott et al ’s model provides a more realistic representation of the thorax, their study did not focus on the effect of anatomical impact site 15. Our model therefore provides a clearer representation of differences between rib and intercostal impact.…”

Ballistic research techniques: visualizing gunshot wounding patterns

“…With synthetic models such as gelatine, the relative transparency allows for visual analysis of gunshot wounding (GSW) using techniques such as high speed video (HSV) to capture the effect of the projectile on the target in real time [6,10,12,14]. With respect to the study of GSW in cadaveric or live tissue, one of the difficulties in the analysis of wounding patterns is the opacity of the surrogate.…”

Anthropological analysis of projectile trauma to the bony regions of the trunk

“…Much research in ballistics has focused on soft tissue injuries including autopsy features and experimental aspects utilising animal models, ballistics simulants and dummy models (Bir et al 2016;Humphrey et al 2017;Humphrey and Kumaratilake 2016;Jönsson et al 1988;Mabbott et al 2016;Schantz 1978). When it comes to bony injuries from projectiles, a lot of research has been conducted into maxillofacial ballistics trauma (Berryman et al 1995;Lahren et al 1987;Stefanopoulos et al 2015;Viel et al 2009).…”