MRI Scan Can Help Identify Abused Babies – Scientists

Writer: Robert Valenzuela on Sep 1 2010.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for whole-body scanning, may be used in detecting alleged child abuse in infants, scientists announced.

Because of its preciseness at identifying soft-tissue abnormalities it could allow doctors to closer examine injured babies, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (www.ajronline.org).

MRI does not employ ionizing radiation when scanning the entire body, but uses a magnetic field, radio frequency pulses, and a computer to come up with clear pictures of organs, soft tissues, bone, and nearly all the components of the inner body.

Injuries on the skeletal system is the primary basis of abuse diagnosis, and high resolution scans (a series of X-rays of all the bones in the body) are suggested to picture the generally indistinct but very specific nature of fractures involved in abuse of infants.

The most usual indications of violence are body contusions. Not included at present in global imaging are injuries in tissues under the skin and muscle in living children.

The research comprised of 21 infants who went through whole-body MRI done at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, for the assessment of assumed child abuse which identified 167 fractures or areas of skeletal signal abnormality.

“Although our study results revealed that whole-body MRI is insensitive in the detection of classic metaphyseal lesions and rib fractures, we found it did identify soft-tissue injuries such as muscle edema and joint effusions that, in some cases, led to identifying additional fractures,” said Jeannette M. Perez-Rossello, MD, lead author of the study.

“Even though our study indicates that whole-body MRI is currently unsuitable as a primary global skeletal imaging tool for suspected imaging abuse, it may be useful as a supplement to the skeletal survey in selected cases, particularly with regard to soft tissue injuries,” said Perez-Rossello.

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