Challenging topics in child abuse imaging: improving our understanding

Excerpt

Child abuse is a frighteningly common scourge of modern society. Medical work up of a child who may be the victim of abuse is conducted with great diligence because the ramifications of making or not making the diagnosis are both great. We always seek to get it right. The abuse of a child is a horrible thought—it is not a diagnosis that any physician wishes to make. As responsible physicians, we routinely consider differential diagnoses. It is our duty to consider other diagnoses and explanations that offer plausible explanation for injury to a child. In many children, probably more often than not, child abuse is ruled out and other diagnoses are made. …