Citation

Geserick G, Krocker K, Wirth I. Arch. Kriminol. 2015; 236(5-6): 145-165.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Verlag Schmidt-Romhild)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The first person to describe a gunshot wound to the skull in which the cranium was blasted open and large pieces of the brain ejected out of the skull was Zurich neurosurgeon Rudolf Ulrich Krönlein (1847-1910) in 1899. The cases involved suicides using a Swiss repeating rifle. In the period up to 1910, other authors reported similar cases and shooting experiments with comparable results. The term 'Krönlein shot' increasingly came to be used for this type of injury. Hydrodynamic explosion was recognized as the cause of this unusual phenomenon, as discussed in studies published by the Medical Department of the Prussian Ministry of War in 1894 and indeed as Krönlein himself had postulated. The key to this explosive effect is the kinetic energy (i. e. mass and velocity) of the bullet and the liquid content of the affected organ. Consequently, bullets fired from long-barreled weapons with a high muzzle velocity (600 m/s or higher) and at close range as well as bullets with a high flight stability and penetrating power (jacketed bullets) are more likely to cause this type of head injury. Similarly, the Krönlein effect also tends to occur where the trajectory of the bullet runs through the base of the cranium (tangential to the brain). The effect of muzzle gases in causing the skull to explode, particularly for shots fired at point blank range, was also noted early on. In recent years, this effect has been impressively demonstrated for shots from rifles, shotguns and pump-action shotguns. Krönlein shots are rare events - other explosive effects on the skull are observed more frequently. In his first case, Krönlein described the ejection of the whole cerebrum in its entirety together with the cerebellum located separately from the cerebrum. This is sometimes described as a complete Krönlein shot. In the literature, however, the ejection of the cerebrum, cerebral hemispheres or large pieces of brain are all usually described as Krönlein shots. To clarify this distinction, these would be better described as incomplete Krönlein shots.

Language: de

Keywords

Gunshot injuries; Krönlein shot; Wound ballistics