Ocular changes associated with child abuse - Our experience at UTMB

Purpose. To describe both the incidence and type of ocular changes in all child abuse cases seen between 1985 and 1995. Methods. All child abuse cases with suspected head injury underwent a complete ophthalmological exam which concentrated on examining the fundus for previously described "shaken baby syndrome" associated retinal changes. Fundus photographs documented any retinal pathology. Results. We present the incidence and characteristic retinal changes associated with the "shaken baby syndrome" in cases seen at our institution. The visual results will be presented. Our results confirm the presence of different types of retinal hemorrhages in the posterior pole as seen in previous studies; however, in contrast to other studies, we also found a high incidence of white-centered retinal hemorrhages. Conclusions. The "shaken baby syndrome" is associated with a high incidence of characteristic retinal findings which, in our study, included the presence of white-centered retinal hemorrhages. The significance of this finding and its relationship to visual outcome will be discussed.