The importance of optic nerve sheath hemorrhage as a postmortem finding in cases of fatal abusive head trauma: a 13-year study in a tertiary hospital

Physical child abuse is a major cause of death in infants and toddlers. Up to 80% of fatal child abuse cases are due to abusive head trauma.[1 –3] The mechanism of injury in cases of abusive head trauma may result from severe rotational and translational acceleration due to vigorous shaking (non-contact force), direct impact (contact force), or a combination of both.[2,4] Generally, an initial given history in correlation with the mechan ism of injury is usually inadequate and not reliable in most cases of child abuse.
Source: Forensic Science International - Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Source Type: research