ABSTRACT
Survived injuries from manual and/or ligature strangulation are a common issue in clinical forensic medicine, whereas abortive attempts of hanging are rare. This chapter discusses some aspects of survived strangulation. In neck compressions by an offender, most victims are female, whereas the perpetrators are mainly males. Assaults to the neck often occur in sexual offences, fights or robberies. Typical symptoms after neck compression are dysphagia, dysphonia, tenderness and pain of the laryngeal region, especially when moving the neck. In surviving strangulation victims, the presence of petechial bleedings depends on several factors, i.e. duration, intensity and kind of neck compression as well as the relative strength of the persons involved. The potentially life-threatening effects of neck compression are essentially due to occlusion of the cervical vessels and/or obstruction of the airways. Apart from local findings on the neck and signs of venous congestion, a high percentage of strangulation victims also show concomitant injuries in other body regions.
