[Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy as a special form of head injury complication in battered child syndrome].

The battered child syndrome is increasingly more often described in literature. Head injuries experienced by battered children are the main cause of deaths and neurological complications. A special form of damage inflicted in battered children is vessel background brain injury. The objective of the article was to characterize central nervous system injuries and their results in children who were victims of physical violence. Medical records of three patients hospitalized in Department of Neurology of the Polish Mother Health Center Institute in Lodz, in whom the battered child syndrome had been diagnosed, were analyzed. The authors discussed three cases of children with central nervous system injuries caused by physical violence. All the children were treated pharmacologically, placed on parenteral nutrition and rehabilitated. Among typical central nervous system injuries caused by head trauma, particular attention of the authors was focused on hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a complication of a still unclear etiology that occurred in two cases. Battered children are usually treated in surgical departments and the causes of injuries are not always correctly diagnosed. Brain damage is the reason for permanent neurological consequences in children who experienced physical violence. In medico-legal practice, it is essential to describe precisely all the visible injuries (bruises, abrasions, wounds) especially during the initial medical examination.