Child maltreatment and violence. Contributions from radiologists to a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines child maltreatment as "the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment [...], which results in actual or potential harm to the child's health, survival, development or dignity." By examining the bodily traces of physical abuse, following the most frequently involved mechanisms of injury, it is possible to identify typical radiological patterns. The imaging studies of the bone under repair allows inferring a timeline that may be correlated to the data obtained during history taking. Health care providers should detect suspicious radiological lesions in a timely manner and promptly activate the safeguarding of the child. Our objective was to review recent publications on the imaging studies of children suspected of being victims of physical violence.