Cargando…
Clinical and Forensic Investigation Protocols for Diagnosing Abusive Head Trauma: A Literature Review
Abusive head trauma (AHT) represents a very serious global public health problem. Prevention of these episodes is essential to reduce the morbidity and mortality of this phenomenon. All healthcare professionals should be able to recognize the signs of abuse. However, diagnosis is very complex as the...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10572508/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37835835 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13193093 |
_version_ | 1785120249426739200 |
---|---|
author | Sacco, Matteo Antonio Gualtieri, Saverio Tarda, Lucia Ricci, Pietrantonio Aquila, Isabella |
author_facet | Sacco, Matteo Antonio Gualtieri, Saverio Tarda, Lucia Ricci, Pietrantonio Aquila, Isabella |
author_sort | Sacco, Matteo Antonio |
collection | PubMed |
description | Abusive head trauma (AHT) represents a very serious global public health problem. Prevention of these episodes is essential to reduce the morbidity and mortality of this phenomenon. All healthcare professionals should be able to recognize the signs of abuse. However, diagnosis is very complex as the signs are often blurred and cannot be recognized with certainty without carrying out adequate instrumental investigations. It has been calculated that approximately one-third of AHT cases remain undetected and require more than one medical visit to be correctly interpreted and diagnosed. On the other hand, the literature has recently also emphasized the problems related to possible false diagnoses of abuse and the numerous family and personal repercussions that follow from this issue. For these reasons, correct and timely recognition is essential to avoid the risk of recurrence of AHT and to start proper forensic investigations, in order to identify the offender or exonerate a suspect. The present work explores the most recent evidence of recent years in the field of AHT diagnostics through a literature review. The purpose of this article is to provide forensic pathologists with clear tools for diagnosis based on the literature. To this end, the review suggests clinical and forensic protocols aimed at the timely diagnosis of AHT in order to prevent abuse from remaining undetected. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10572508 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-105725082023-10-14 Clinical and Forensic Investigation Protocols for Diagnosing Abusive Head Trauma: A Literature Review Sacco, Matteo Antonio Gualtieri, Saverio Tarda, Lucia Ricci, Pietrantonio Aquila, Isabella Diagnostics (Basel) Review Abusive head trauma (AHT) represents a very serious global public health problem. Prevention of these episodes is essential to reduce the morbidity and mortality of this phenomenon. All healthcare professionals should be able to recognize the signs of abuse. However, diagnosis is very complex as the signs are often blurred and cannot be recognized with certainty without carrying out adequate instrumental investigations. It has been calculated that approximately one-third of AHT cases remain undetected and require more than one medical visit to be correctly interpreted and diagnosed. On the other hand, the literature has recently also emphasized the problems related to possible false diagnoses of abuse and the numerous family and personal repercussions that follow from this issue. For these reasons, correct and timely recognition is essential to avoid the risk of recurrence of AHT and to start proper forensic investigations, in order to identify the offender or exonerate a suspect. The present work explores the most recent evidence of recent years in the field of AHT diagnostics through a literature review. The purpose of this article is to provide forensic pathologists with clear tools for diagnosis based on the literature. To this end, the review suggests clinical and forensic protocols aimed at the timely diagnosis of AHT in order to prevent abuse from remaining undetected. MDPI 2023-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC10572508/ /pubmed/37835835 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13193093 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Review Sacco, Matteo Antonio Gualtieri, Saverio Tarda, Lucia Ricci, Pietrantonio Aquila, Isabella Clinical and Forensic Investigation Protocols for Diagnosing Abusive Head Trauma: A Literature Review |
title | Clinical and Forensic Investigation Protocols for Diagnosing Abusive Head Trauma: A Literature Review |
title_full | Clinical and Forensic Investigation Protocols for Diagnosing Abusive Head Trauma: A Literature Review |
title_fullStr | Clinical and Forensic Investigation Protocols for Diagnosing Abusive Head Trauma: A Literature Review |
title_full_unstemmed | Clinical and Forensic Investigation Protocols for Diagnosing Abusive Head Trauma: A Literature Review |
title_short | Clinical and Forensic Investigation Protocols for Diagnosing Abusive Head Trauma: A Literature Review |
title_sort | clinical and forensic investigation protocols for diagnosing abusive head trauma: a literature review |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10572508/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37835835 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13193093 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT saccomatteoantonio clinicalandforensicinvestigationprotocolsfordiagnosingabusiveheadtraumaaliteraturereview AT gualtierisaverio clinicalandforensicinvestigationprotocolsfordiagnosingabusiveheadtraumaaliteraturereview AT tardalucia clinicalandforensicinvestigationprotocolsfordiagnosingabusiveheadtraumaaliteraturereview AT riccipietrantonio clinicalandforensicinvestigationprotocolsfordiagnosingabusiveheadtraumaaliteraturereview AT aquilaisabella clinicalandforensicinvestigationprotocolsfordiagnosingabusiveheadtraumaaliteraturereview |