The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Jun 2010
Review Meta AnalysisOverrepresentation of males in traumatic brain injury of infancy and in infants with macrocephaly: further evidence that questions the existence of shaken baby syndrome.
Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) has been thought to be caused by violent shaking of an infant and is characterized by the triad of findings: subdural hematoma (SDH), retinal hemorrhages, and neurologic abnormalities. The triad is not specific for SBS and can be seen in accidental trauma and in certain medical conditions. Recent observations, however, question whether SBS exists. ⋯ Third, infants with macrocephaly related to IEAFS may be at increased risk for developing a SDH from the larger head size and greater tautness of the bridging vessels in the extra-axial fluid spaces. We believe that many infants who have been diagnosed with SBS have been given incorrect diagnoses of child abuse. Rather, their SDH may occur as a result of a small SDH from the birthing process that enlarges during early infancy, a short fall, or from macrocephaly with IEAFS.
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Jun 2010
ReviewExcited delirium, restraints, and unexpected death: a review of pathogenesis.
Unexpected deaths periodically occur in individuals held in police custody. These decedents usually have had significant physical exertion associated with violent and/or bizarre behavior, have been restrained by the police, and often have drug intoxication. Autopsy material from these cases may not provide a satisfactory explanation for the cause of death, and these deaths are then attributed to the excited delirium syndrome. ⋯ People who die under unusual circumstances associated with high catecholamine levels have contraction bands in their myocardium. Consequently, the pathogenesis of the excited delirium syndrome could be evaluated by using echocardiograms in patients brought to the emergency centers, and by more careful assessment of the myocardium and coronary vessels at autopsy. Treatment should focus on prevention through the reduction of stress.
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Occasionally, individuals accused of inflicting fatal injuries on infants and young children will claim some variant of the "CPR defense," that is, they attribute the cause of injuries found at autopsy to their "untrained" resuscitative efforts. A 10-year (1994-2003) historical fixed cohort study of all pediatric forensic autopsies at the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department was undertaken. To be eligible for inclusion in the study, children had to have died of atraumatic causes, with or without resuscitative efforts (N(atraumatic) = 546). ⋯ This study indicates that in the pediatric population, injuries secondary to resuscitative efforts are infrequent or rare, pathophysiologically inconsequential, and predominantly orofacial in location. In our population, CPR did not result in any rib fractures or significant visceral injuries. Participation of nonmedical or untrained individuals in resuscitation did not increase the likelihood of injury.
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Jun 2010
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, suicides and parasuicides in professional American athletes: the role of the forensic pathologist.
We present 5 cases of professional American contact sport athletes who committed parasuicides and suicides aged 50, 45, 44, 36, and 40 years old. Full forensic autopsies and immunohistochemical analyses of the brains revealed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The brains appeared grossly normal at autopsy without gross evidence of remote traumatic injuries or neurodegenerative disease. ⋯ CTE can only be definitively diagnosed by direct tissue examination. Without full autopsies and immunohistochemical brain analyses these cases would never have been identified. Forensic pathologists will play a vital and central role in the emerging disease surveillance of CTE in professional American athletes, in the identification of CTE cases, and in the establishment of the epidemiology of CTE, with the goal of eventually developing preventive and interventional therapeutic protocols for CTE outcomes.