Abstract
Introduction
We explored several modes of violent shaking using a dummy doll with an eyeball model
to reproduce abusive events that lead to retinal haemorrhages (RH) seen in shaken
baby syndrome or abusive head trauma (SBS/AHT).
Materials and methods
A dummy doll equipped with an eyeball model was prepared. The eyeball model was filled
with a model of vitreous body, i.e. agar gel or water, and was with a pressure sensor to measure normal stress.
Results
The modes of shaking were classified into three patterns, i.e. fast shaking with the fore arms, fast shaking with the whole arms and synchronized
shaking with the whole arms. The frequency of the cyclic acceleration–deceleration
history experienced by the head of the dummy doll was 5.0, 4.0 and 2.2 Hz, respectively, with the maximum acceleration of 20, 20 and 60 m/s2, respectively. We considered the last of these three modes of shaking as possibly
corresponding to the worst case of violent shaking. This mode of shaking could be
instructed to volunteers who acted as imitate perpetrators, and resulted in both increased
peak intensities of the acceleration experienced by the head of the dummy doll and
increased stresses on the retina at the posterior pole of the eyeball model.
Discussion
The time integral of the stress through a single cycle of shaking was 107 Pa·s, much larger than that of a single event of fall, which resulted in 60–73 Pa·s. Taking into account that abusive shaking is likely to include multiple cycles,
the time integral of the stress due to abusive shaking can be even larger. This clear
difference may explain why RH in SBS/AHT is frequent, while RH in accidental falls
is rare.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 17, 2014
Accepted:
April 5,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
