An infant brought dead to casualty has a skull radiograph showing a fracture in which a circular area of the parietal bone is pushed inward as a single piece, resembling a ping-pong ball dent, without radiating fracture lines. This is characteristic of:

• A Depressed pond fracture of infancy ✓
• B Comminuted mosaic fracture
• C Diastatic fracture along sutures
• D Growing fracture of childhood

Explanation

In infants the skull is thin, elastic and pliable, so localised blunt force dents the bone inward like a table tennis ball without splintering, producing the pond or ping-pong type depressed fracture. Comminuted fractures produce multiple fragments, diastatic fractures separate sutures and are common in children but are not localised dents, and growing fractures occur months after a dural tear with leptomeningeal herniation.

Reference: Knight's Forensic Pathology, 4th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.