All issues > Volume 46(4); 2003

Case Report

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 2003;46(4):404-408. Published online April 15, 2003.

Five Cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome

Ok Yeon OY Cho¹, Kwon Hoe KH Huh¹, Do Jun DJ Cho¹, Dug Ha DH Kim¹, Ki Sik KS Min¹, Ki Yang KY Yoo¹, Yul Y Lee²

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Anyang, Korea
²Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Anyang, Korea

Correspondence Ki Sik KS Min ,Email: ksmin@hallym.or.kr

Abstract

Shaken baby syndrome is a serious form of child abuse, mostly involving children younger than 2 years. It results from extreme rotational cranial acceleration induced by violent shaking. The characteristic injuries include subdural hemorrhage, retinal hemorrhage, and fracture of ribs or long bones. If physicians have no recognition of, or suspicion about, shaken baby syndrome, this syndome is difficult to diagnosis because of a lack of obvious external signs and failure of the abuser to admit his or her actions. In addition to the high mortality, 60% of survivors have significant long term neurologic and developmental abnormality. The authors experienced five cases of shaken baby syndrome presented with seizures or vomiting, without external signs of trauma. All of these cases had subdural hemorrhages, and four cases had retinal hemorrahges. In our follow up, two children were found to have sequelae such as quadriplegia, monoplegia, and developmental delay. We emphasize that early recognition and prompt treament are key to overall success of case management. The incidence of shaken baby syndrome can be reduced through public awareness and education of parents not to shake a babies.

Keywords :Shaken baby syndrome, Subdural hemorrhage, Retinal hemorrhage