Comparison of Permanent and Temporary Cavities produced by High-Velocity Rifle Bullets in Soft Tissue

摘要

The permanent and temporary cavities produced by high-velocity rifle bullets in soft tissue were compared, and a method for preparing plastic castings of permanent wounds in soft tissue was developed.nA predictable relation exists between the size of wounds made by stable, nontumbling bullets of a given shape in soft tissues and the velocity (or kinetic energy) of the bullets. Other things being equal, the higher the velocity, the larger will be both the temporary and permanent cavities.nThe size of a permanent cavity made in isolated soft tissue masses by a stable, nontumbling bullet of a given shape at a particular velocity can serve, although within rather wide limits, as a criterion of the size of the associated temporary cavity, and vice versa.