Extensive Retinal Haemorrhages In Infancy An Innocent Cause

Extensive retinal haemorrhages in babies other than neonates are
recognised as an important sign of child abuse,’ being associated with
violent shaking and the development of subdural haematomas,’ and
sometimes with thoracic compression.3 We report such haemorrhages
in a baby who had patently not been a victim of abuse.

Case report

A previously well 2-month-old boy was left asleep in his pram in the
garden protected by a cat net. After 30 minutes his father discovered him
lying undisturbed but not breathing. He picked him up and found him
pallid and limp, and thought he was dead. He called his wife, who came at
once and held the baby to her shoulder and slapped him repeatedly on the
back to try and revive him. Eventually he choked and spluttered, and at last
began to breathe again. There was a little blood staining his face and the
pillow, and some bloody mucus was expelled from his nostrils.
On arrival in hospital 10 minutes later he was still gravely ill, being barely
conscious, shocked, and cyanosed, with erratic and inadequate respiration
and a pulse rate of 160/min. He was afebrile. He was well-nourished, with
no evidence of neglect or trauma, but there was blood caked in his nostrils.
The eyes had no external injury and the media were clear, but we could see
extensive fresh haemorrhages in the nerve-fibre layer of both fundi. There
was bilateral macular oedema but no swelling of the optic discs.
His haemoglobin was 8-2 g/dl and chest radiography showed patchy
bilateral perihilar shadowing. All other investigation results were negative

or normal (blood film; leucocyte and platelet counts; clotting studies;
concentrations of serum electrolytes, calcium, and urea; cultures of blood
and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); CSF biochemistry and cytology; viral
culture of nasopharyngeal secretions; skeletal survey; and subdural taps).
He rapidly improved after treatment with oxygen, intravenous fluids, and
antibiotics. He remained irritable and hyperreflexive at first but after three
days he was back to normal. He could fixate and follow a light, and opticokinetic
nystagmus was readily elicited. Electroretinography and measurement
of visually evoked responses showed satisfactory function of both retinas
and of the higher pathways. A repeat chest radiograph was clear. When
reviewed two months later he appeared entirely unscathed by the experience.
His eyesight seemed normal, and the retinal haemorrhages had completely
resolved.
Because of initial suspicion of child abuse the parents were questioned
with particular care on the child’s admission and were later interviewed by a
senior paediatrician. Their answers throughout were frank, consistent, and
entirely convincing, and the family doctor and health visitor attested to their
excellent parenthood. Not a single feature emerged from the social background,
the history, or the physical findings to support this suspicion.

Comment

Retinal haemorrhages can be produced by thoracic compression
that is insufficient to cause detectable damage to the chest itself.4 The
retinal vessels of infants may be particularly vulnerable, for many
babies have extensive fundal haemorrhages after an apparently normal
birth.5 We think that this baby became apnoeic after aspirating blood
from an epistaxis, and that his mother’s life-saving measures transmitted
pressure from the thorax to retinal veins that were already
compromised by hypoxia.
To avoid accusing innocent parents of battering their babies
vigilance for child abuse must be balanced by open-mindedness to
alternative explanations for its typical features: extensive fundal
haemorrhages are not invariably diagnostic.
We thank Professor J K G Webb for his encouragement in reporting this
case.
Gilkes, M J, and Mann, T P, Lancet, 1967, 2, 468.
2 Caffey, J, American Journal of Diseases of Children, 1972, 124, 161.
3 Tomasi, L G, and Rosman, N P, American Journal of Diseases of Children,
1975, 129, 1335.
4 Morgan, 0 G, Transactions of the Ophthalmological Society of the United
Kingdom, 1945, 65, 366.
5 Baum, J D, and Bulpitt, C J, Archives of Disease in Childhood, 1970, 45, 344.

University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
C J BACON, MRCP, first assistant, department of child health
G C SAYER, MRCP, registrar, department of child health
J W HOWE, FRCS, consultant ophthalmologist

Source:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1602733/pdf/brmedj00111-0029a.pdf