Extracorporeal bullet trajectory determination from scanned phantoms with bullet defects

•Bullet trajectories inside phantoms describe a straight line from entrance to exit wound.•The discrepancy between the intracorporeal and extracorporeal trajectories can be measured using angles.•Trajectories identified inside the phantom can be extended outside the phantom with a limited range of u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Legal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) Japan), 2024-05, Vol.68, p.102410-102410, Article 102410
Main Authors: Crombag, G.A.J.C., Hofman, B.J.M., Riva, F., Hofman, P.A.M., Kerkhoff, W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3D trajectory reconstruction
Bullet trajectory
Computer Tomography
Error estimation
Firearms
Forensic Ballistics - methods
Humans
Phantoms, Imaging
Shooting incident reconstruction
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Wounds, Gunshot - diagnostic imaging
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Summary:•Bullet trajectories inside phantoms describe a straight line from entrance to exit wound.•The discrepancy between the intracorporeal and extracorporeal trajectories can be measured using angles.•Trajectories identified inside the phantom can be extended outside the phantom with a limited range of uncertainty for the two calibres used.•The findings above can be helpful in more accurate assessment of the position of a shooter in a shooting investigation. Shots with two different calibres (0.32 Auto and 9 mm Luger) were fired through phantoms that simulated human torsos, mounted on undercarriages with witness panels. The perforated phantoms were scanned with computed tomography (Siemens) using 80 kV and 140 kV and a slice thickness of 1 mm. The intracorporeal trajectories in the phantoms were compared to the known extracorporeal trajectories, derived from the perforations in witness panels. The discrepancy between the intracorporeal and extracorporeal trajectories, denoted as the absolute angle, was calculated for the trajectories before (front) and after (rear) the phantoms. Mean absolute angles at the front were lower than at the rear (2.27° vs. 4.54°) and the difference was statistically significant (p 
ISSN:1344-6223
1873-4162
DOI:10.1016/j.legalmed.2024.102410