Child abuse: radiographic findings at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To describe radiographic findings in physically abused children. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The physically abused children diagnosed in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from 1998 to 2002 were retrospectively reviewed of medical records and radiographic imaging. RESULT: Eighteen of 30 physically abused children had positive radiographic findings and 15 of 18 were related to head injury. Subdural hematomas and skull fractures were the two most common findings found in 11 cases and 9 cases respectively. Seven of 11 cases of head injury had retinal hemorrhage. Fractures other than the skull were detected in 6 patients, located at the long bones, ribs and spines. The abused children with positive radiographic findings were more commonly found in younger infants and mucocutaneous lesions might be absent. CONCLUSION: Inflicted head injury was the most common radiographic findings in the present series. Shaking-impact mechanism was likely to play a significant role in this group of patients.

Extravasation of the contrast in the unused urinary bladder.

Ruptured bladder or extravasation from the bladder is almost always associated with trauma. Spontaneous extravasation is extremely rare with only a few reported cases. All those reported extravasations occurred in the patients diagnosed with end stage renal disease (ESRD) and were self limiting conditions. During the one-year period of 2001, voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) of 115 patients were performed in our institution with various indications. The authors found 3 cases with extravasation of contrast from the bladder during VCUG. All extravasations were occurred in ESRD patients and the VCUG was performed as part of the routine investigation prior to renal transplantation. The presented cases shared a similar observation of 1) no traumatic catheterization, 2) only minimal and self limiting extravasation and 3) no immediate or delayed symptom associated with extravasation. The cause and mechanism of leakage remain uncertain. Hypertonicity and mucosal changes within the unused bladder were purposed as probably the two main causes of extravasation.