Acute rib fracture diagnosis in an infant by US: a matter of child protection

Rib fractures in infants and children are highly specific for inflicted injury in the absence of a major accidental injury or underlying bone disorder. We present a 9-week-old infant diagnosed with an acute rib fracture by US at the site where physicians palpated chest wall crepitus when no rib fractures had been visualized on the skeletal survey, including oblique views of the ribs. Based on the US diagnosis of the acute rib fracture the infant was taken into protective custody. Follow-up skeletal survey 2 weeks later revealed healing fractures of the left 6th and 7th posterolateral ribs and right 7th, 8th and 9th anterolateral ribs. We were unable to locate previous reports describing the diagnosis of rib fractures in infants by US. (orig.)