Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 20, 2026
Creating Rigidly Stabilized Fractures for Assessing Intramembranous Ossification, Distraction Osteogenesis, or Healing of Critical Sized Defects
Published on: April 11, 2012
Evaluating infants and young children with multiple fractures
Insights
Infants with unexplained fractures may be victims of abuse, but medical conditions can also cause these injuries. "Temporary brittle-bone disease" is not a recognized medical condition despite its use in legal cases.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Orthopedics
- Forensic Medicine
Background:
- Multiple unexplained fractures in infants and toddlers raise concerns for inflicted injury.
- However, various medical conditions can mimic non-accidental trauma in this age group.
- Differentiating between abuse and medical causes is critical for accurate diagnosis and management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a differential diagnosis for multiple fractures in young children.
- To discuss available diagnostic testing for clinicians.
- To evaluate the validity of
Main Methods:
- Review of medical literature on pediatric fractures.
- Analysis of diagnostic approaches for unexplained fractures.
- Examination of the concept of temporary brittle-bone disease.
Main Results:
- Several medical conditions can present with multiple fractures in infants and toddlers.
- Diagnostic tools are available to aid in differentiating causes.
- No scientific evidence supports the existence of temporary brittle-bone disease.
Conclusions:
- A thorough differential diagnosis is essential when evaluating multiple fractures in young children.
- Clinicians should consider both inflicted injury and underlying medical conditions.
- Temporary brittle-bone disease lacks scientific validation and should not be considered a diagnosis.
Abstract:
Infants and toddlers with multiple unexplained fractures are often victims of inflicted injury. However, several medical conditions can also cause multiple fractures in children in this age group. In this report, the differential diagnosis of multiple fractures is presented, and diagnostic testing available to the clinician is discussed. The hypothetical entity "temporary brittle-bone disease" is examined also. Although frequently offered in court cases as a cause of multiple infant fractures, there is no evidence that this condition actually exists.
