Doctors find common telltale injury that may signify domestic violence

Fractures that can be found on the bone that stretches from the pinky finger to the elbow, or the ulna, are often linked to a victim's self-defense.

Other than bruises on the face and other parts of the body, signs of domestic violence are not always apparent and may go under the radar even after seeing a physician. Recently, a group of researchers found one telltale bone fracture that could signal this situation.

Researchers from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston revealed that fractures that can be found on the bone that stretches from the pinky finger to the elbow, were regarded as a result of the victim acting in defense of oneself. The results were presented at the Radiological Society of North America annual conference.

Dr Bharti Khurana, Brigham and Women's Hospital radiologist and the senior author of the study, revealed in a news release that she would often see such types of injuries in men. However, there are times that she would also see the same injuries in women. Until recently, she has not correlated the injuries to domestic violence. She recounted that when she shared her thoughts with other orthopedic surgeons, they supported it and pushed through with the study.

The researchers looked for isolated ulnar fractures from the electronic medical records of women between the age of 18 to 50 coming from six different hospitals. The 62 patients that were identified had an average age of 31. The researchers were able to confirm 12 cases of partner violence. There were another eight whom they also suspected to be undergoing intimate partner violence.

When they analysed the radiographs, they found minimally displaced fractures in those who were victims of intimate partner violence.

Lead author David Sing explained that the radiological characteristics that they looked for were patterns of fracture, as to how the bone got broken, as well as the displacement of the fracture, and of course, the location. The most significant characteristic was a minimally displaced fracture, which indicates that "the bone is broken all the way through but has not shifted significantly."

He noted that many women who did not want to come out and speak up about the crime would always attribute their injuries to a fall. However, Dr Khurana said that it is quite rare to break the ulna in a fall.

He added that a formal evaluation of domestic violence was only done in 40 percent of confirmed or suspected cases. In this aspect, radiologists may be able to help as they can relay to physicians when a fracture may be a sign of domestic violence.