Since there are difficulties in procuring human fracture specimens of known posttraumatic survival times due to the rarity of evidence-based research on dating fractures, especially those of the cranial vault, the current article introduces a new database through which limitations imposed by sample procurement may be mitigated.
The Repository of Antemortem Injury Response (REPAIR) is a digitally accessible database of cranial vault fractures of known ages with extensive contextual information and visual documentation in the form of photography, radiography, and histological photomicrographs. This repository is a multifunctional tool that serves as a case submission portal for cranial fractures of known posttraumatic survival time, a sample database for research on fracture healing and rates of repair, a resource for comparative assessments of cranial fractures in forensic casework, and an educational tool for healing fracture histomorphology. (publisher abstract modified)