@article{ref1,
title="Accidental injury or "shaken elderly syndrome"? Insights from a case report",
journal="Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)",
year="2023",
author="Bugelli, Valentina and Campobasso, Carlo Pietro and Feola, Alessandro and Tarozzi, Ilaria and Abbruzzese, Arturo and Di Paolo, Marco",
volume="11",
number="2",
pages="e228-e228",
abstract="Subdural haemorrhage (SDH) as result of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common cause of death in cases of fatal physical abuse. Since intracranial bleeding is a common finding in elderly due to age-related intracranial changes or increasing prevalence of anticoagulant medication, differential diagnosis between inflicted and non-inflicted head injury is challenging. A case of an elderly woman's death caused by TBI is reported. Autopsy showed multiple polychromatic bruises and a frontoparietal hematoma with bilateral subacute SDH. History excluded paraphysiological or pathological non-traumatic conditions that could justify SDH, while iatrogenic factors only played a contributory role. Since polychromatic bruises distributed on the face, the upper extremities and the chest were consistent with forceful grasping/gripping or repeated blows and SDH can form in absence of impact or by mild/minor blows, SDH was considered the result of repeated physical abuses. Differential diagnosis between traumatic and non-traumatic SDH is still challenging for forensic pathologists. As largely accepted in the pediatric population and occasionally described also in adults, however, violent shaking should be also considered as a possible mechanism of SDH-especially in elderly who do not have any sign of impact to the head.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2227-9032",
doi="10.3390/healthcare11020228",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11020228"
}