[Significance of intraosseous skull cap hematoma for reconstruction of skull injuries].

Diaphanoscopic postmortal examination of blunt impact injuries to the head sometimes revealed non-diaphanous regions deriving from intraossary haematomata. Precise delimitation of these haematomata in the diploe from haematopoietic foci or neoplastic lesions was possible by means of histological examination. The location of the intraossary skull-cap haematomata coincided with corresponding injuries of the scalp as contusions and lacerations; they were often accompanied by fissural bone lesions and linear fractures. As such a diploetic haemorrhage represents a facultative counterpart of scalp contusion, its demonstration allows conclusions to be drawn as to the area of the impact, even if, owing to postmortal changes, the scalp is no longer assessable.