Physical abuse is the most common cause of head injury in infants. This is an important diagnosis to catch because children with inflicted head trauma are at high risk for sustaining further trauma. In abused children, head trauma is the most common cause of death. For this reason, in cases of pediatric head trauma, child abuse is an extremely important diagnosis to consider.

The following contains 2 cases related to head trauma suspicious for child abuse with key learning points in the answer explanations. It is meant to supplement other learning on the subject.

Learning objectives:

• Common red flags from history and physical for abusive head trauma
• Steps for workup
• Imaging: CT, Skull xray, skeletal survey, and/or technetium bone scan
• Physician responsibilities in cases of suspected child abuse