[Responses of medical imaging in battered children. The Silverman-Ambroise Tardieu syndrome].

Imaging procedures offer an important contribution to the syndrome of the abused child that F.N. Silverman himself proposes to call the Ambroise Tardieu syndrome. First they disclose and analyse the lesions which may involve bones, encephalon or spinal cord, viscera, soft tissues. Then they must answer four questions: Traumatic lesion or normal variant? If traumatic, are there arguments pointing to abuse, for instance multiple bone lesions of different ages and more specifically fractures of ribs, clavicle, spine, pelvis, phalanxes? Is there a possibility of a general disease explaining such traumatic lesions? Etiologies are revised including sensibility deficits. Finally are the bad treatments inflicted with an intention of hurting, injuring or destroying? The answer results of a discussion with clinicians and social interveners but some lesions, as phalanx fractures, may be determining. In this situation that involves the vital prognosis and may induce severe sequellae the imaging strategy, fully described, is of paramount importance.