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Update on injury mechanisms in abusive head trauma - shaken baby syndrome

  • Special Issue: Abusive Head Trauma
  • Published:
Pediatric Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Violently shaking a baby leads to clinical presentations ranging from seizures to cardiopulmonary arrest. The main injuries sustained are retinal hemorrhages, subdural hemorrhages, and sometimes fractures and spine injury. It is important to have a global view of the injuries sustained by the infant to correctly discuss the biomechanical aspects of abusive head trauma. Recent works based on finite element models have shown that whiplash-shaking alone is enough to generate vitreo-retinal traction leading to retinal hemorrhage and to cause the rupture of bridging veins leading to subdural hemorrhage. We will review the main papers dealing with the mechanisms of shaken baby syndrome and present the most relevant hypothesis concerning the biomechanical aspects of injuries related to shaken baby syndrome.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Strasbourg – Icube, Unistra-CNRS, 2 Rue Boussingault, 67000, Strasbourg, France

    Jeyendran Nadarasa, Caroline Deck, Franck Meyer, Rémy Willinger & Jean-Sébastien Raul

  2. Institute of Legal Medicine, 11 rue Humann, 67085, Strasbourg, Cedex, France

    Jeyendran Nadarasa & Jean-Sébastien Raul

Authors
  1. Jeyendran Nadarasa
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  2. Caroline Deck
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  3. Franck Meyer
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  4. Rémy Willinger
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  5. Jean-Sébastien Raul
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Correspondence to Jeyendran Nadarasa.

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Nadarasa, J., Deck, C., Meyer, F. et al. Update on injury mechanisms in abusive head trauma - shaken baby syndrome. Pediatr Radiol 44 (Suppl 4), 565–570 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-014-3168-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-014-3168-9

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