Vertebral arterial injury due to fatal dog bites.

Dog bite-related injuries and fatalities are major public health problem worldwide. The authors present a case of a Japanese Tosa-dog bite-related fatality in an old woman who died from a vertebral arterial laceration with the C5 vertebral fracture. This was an uncommon type of injury that dog bites injured the vertebral artery only without damage to carotid artery. The identity of the Tosa-dog as an offending dog in this case was unsuccessful by a DNA analysis. Then the detection of the offending dog was made by comparisons of the dental casts of the dog with the victim's wounds. This case report describes making dental cast of the dog, and statistical data on dog-bite incidents in Japan.