Publications by authors named "S Banaschak"

Central nervous system-associated lesions can frequently be found in abusive head trauma (AHT) cases. Since there are frequently no visible signs of injury on the body surface, the diagnosis of AHT can be challenging. In particular, if the affected child shows only isolated neurological symptoms, these are often misinterpreted as a minor illness.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The article raises serious doubts about its scientific validity, particularly regarding the conclusion that asymptomatic rib fractures in infants are mostly not related to abuse.
  • - Concerns focus on the methodology and reasoning used by the authors, suggesting it may misinform child abuse assessments.
  • - The authors of the critique urge caution in using the article's findings for making critical decisions in child protection cases.
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Article Synopsis
  • Subdural collections (SDCs) are critical findings in abusive head trauma (AHT) cases, with various forms such as subdural hematoma and hygroma being analyzed for their prevalence and impact on forensic injury age estimation.
  • A retrospective study of 56 documented AHT cases found that most children exhibited multiple SDCs, with the mixed appearance pattern being frequent, while the newly developed classification system highlighted the complexity of these patterns.
  • The study concluded that signs of recent brain injury were present in nearly all cases, and there were no significant differences between confession and non-confession groups, supporting the reliability of AHT diagnostic criteria.
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Abusive head trauma (AHT) and its most common variant, the shaken baby syndrome (SBS), are predominantly characterized by central nervous system-associated lesions. Relatively little data are available on the value of skeletal and skin injuries for the diagnosis of SBS or AHT. Thus, the present study retrospectively investigated 72 cases of living children diagnosed with the explicit diagnosis of SBS during medico-legal examinations at three German university institutes of legal medicine.

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