Abstract / Summary
Abstract Background Fatal cut-throat injuries may create substantial medicolegal difficulty because homicidal and suicidal deaths can share external and internal findings. Direct autopsy-based comparisons containing sufficient numbers of both manners of death remain limited. This study compared wound morphology, deep cervical injuries, toxicological findings, and selected scene characteristics in fatal cut-throat injuries. Results Forty-three deaths examined at a forensic autopsy centre in Türkiye between 2021 and 2025 were evaluated: 29 homicides, 12 suicides, and two deaths of undetermined manner. The undetermined cases were described but excluded from comparative analyses. Defence injuries, carotid artery injury, tracheal opening, and vertebral injury were more frequent among homicides, whereas neck and wrist hesitation injuries, wound tailing, and drug positivity were more frequent among suicides. Wound location, orientation, number of neck wounds, multiple wound tracks, jugular vein injury, laryngeal injury, and oesophageal injury did not differ significantly between the two groups. Considerable overlap remained across the broader injury pattern. Conclusions The observed differences are group-level associations rather than independent diagnostic criteria for manner of death. Fatal cut-throat injuries require integrated assessment of external and internal injury patterns, toxicology, scene findings, and other investigative evidence. The findings are exploratory and should be validated in larger multicentre series.