Imaging Findings in Pediatric Nonaccidental Head Injury

Abstract

Nonaccidental head injury can be a very serious result of child abuse with the clinical outcome being poor and including mental retardation, long-term disability and even death. Skull radiographs, head CT and increasingly MRI are very useful tools in making this very serious diagnosis. Radiologists must be familiar with the radiologic patterns of child abuse and must maintain a high level of suspicion. We review and present several of the common radiologic findings in pediatric nonaccidental head injury.