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01-08-2015 | Review

Bridging veins and autopsy findings in abusive head trauma

Author: Caroline Rambaud

Published in: Pediatric Radiology | Issue 8/2015

Abstract

Bridging veins are crucial for the venous drainage of the brain. They run as short and straight bridges between the brain surface and the superior sagittal sinus in the subdural compartment. Subdural bleeding is a marker for a traumatic mechanism (i.e., acceleration/deceleration, rotational and shearing forces due to violent shaking) causing rupture of the bridging veins. Demonstration of bridging vein rupture allows the unequivocal diagnosis of a traumatic mechanism and should therefore be a routine part of the postmortem in cases of subdural hemorrhage.

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Title: Bridging veins and autopsy findings in abusive head trauma
Author: Caroline Rambaud
Publication date: 01-08-2015
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Pediatric Radiology / Issue 8/2015
Print ISSN: 0301-0449
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1998
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-015-3285-0

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Bridging veins and autopsy findings in abusive head trauma

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