RESUMO
Femoral fractures in nonambulating infants are generally felt to be attributable to abuse in the absence of significant trauma or underlying organic pathology. The investigation of such fractures includes a report to appropriate social service and law enforcement agencies, and legal involvement. This paper describes 2 nonambulatory infants who sustained identical oblique distal femoral metaphyseal fractures extending through the growth plate after playing in an infant stationary activity center called an Exersaucer. It is possible that the twisting motion provided by the Exersaucer (Evenflo, Picqua, OH) might be consistent with the generation of forces necessary to cause these fractures.
Assuntos
Acidentes Domésticos/estatística & dados numéricos , Fraturas do Fêmur/etiologia , Equipamentos para Lactente/efeitos adversos , Maus-Tratos Infantis/diagnóstico , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Fraturas do Fêmur/diagnóstico por imagem , Humanos , Lactente , RadiografiaRESUMO
A preterm black girl was born at 35 weeks of gestation to a healthy nonconsanguineous couple. She had a very short trunk with disproportionately long extremities, mild prognathism, low-set ears, thoracolumbar meningomyelocele, and imperforate anus. She died 45 min after birth. Roentgenograms revealed hemivertebrae, block vertebrae, severe thoracic lordosis, absent sacrum, posterior fusion of some ribs with greater distance among them in the anterior thorax, and relatively long extremities. Internal examination showed an intact meningomyelocele extending from the first thoracic vertebra to the lumbosacral region, containing 150 mL of clear fluid. The lungs were severely hypoplastic. Spondylocostal dysostosis encompasses a spectrum of vertebral abnormalities ranging from spina bifida occulta to large meningomyelocele and from mild to severe thoracic deformities that produce pulmonary hypoplasia and respiratory insufficiency. Our case is one of the most severe ever described.