ABSTRACT
Ambroise Tardieu, a physician in France, first described the findings associated with inflicted childhood injury, in 1860, 35 years before the discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. However the ‘father’ of radiological imaging in child abuse must surely be John Caffey, who in 1946 gave the first radiological description of the findings. The radiographs obtained in cases of suspected abuse are collectively known as the skeletal survey. The skeletal survey is the primary investigation of choice for any child under the age of two years where physical abuse is suspected, and once the suspicion has been raised, the full skeletal survey must be performed. A bone scan is sometimes advocated as an adjunct to the initial skeletal survey, or as a delayed investigation, to help to identify fractures missed on the radiographic skeletal survey. Abdominal trauma may be suspected when a child presents with an acute abdomen and other evidence of trauma.
