Shaken Baby Syndrome

Overview

Shaken baby syndrome represents a specific form of the Abused child syndrome. Injury usually concerns the baby’s head and the brain and it is caused by thoughtless treatment accompanied by harsh shaking movements of the head and neck. It can cause a contusion of the cervical spinal hord, a rupture of the bridging veins, intracranial bleeding and a brain tissue impairment either due to the direct axonal damage, or namely by hypoxic-ischaemic insult. The development of the lesion can be fatal, or it can result in permanent impairment of the motor system, in mental or sensory deficits. Occurrence of the syndrome in the Czech Republic is not known, foreign data give 25 cases per 100 000 children below one year of age. Injured babies represent over 1 % of those hospitalised at paediatric units of intensive care and more than 10 % of the death rate at those departments. Proved abuse has forensic consequences; however, convictive evidence can be difficult to obtain. Article gives a concrete case of a boy with the diagnose Shaken baby syndrome. 

Key words:
abused child, subdural haematoma, retinal haemorrhage, seizures in children.