A lucid interval (LI) is the period of time between regaining consciousness after a short period of unconsciousness, resulting from a head injury and deteriorating after the onset of neurologic signs and symptoms caused by that injury. The incentive for this study was the case of a father who left his 14-week-old infant with the nanny in whose custody the infant had collapsed. The nanny denied involvement in the injury, and the father became a suspect. Of 47 abusive head trauma (AHT) cases, 8 were found to have an LI in the past. The history of the cases were thoroughly analyzed and compared with evidence in the literature. An LI is not compatible with an inertial brain injury. Shaking has either an immediate effect or no effect, which means that an LI occurs only in pure impact or blunt injuries. When "shaking lesions" are found including a retinal hemorrhage while the history mentions an LI, the story most likely is false, regardless of whether the perpetrator confesses. The finding of an LI may change the assessment of an AHT case. Lucid interval is a valuable variable in the diagnostic accuracy of an AHT.
It is generally accepted that terms referring to specific craniocerebral injury mechanisms must be replaced by the more general term abusive head trauma (AHT). Although blunt impact trauma remains an essential part of AHT, it has received far less attention in the literature than shaken-impact injuries. The current article presents 19 confessed cases of a series of 47 highly suspected AHT cases. Of these, 13 were confessed shaken-impact cases, and the other 6 confessed blunt trauma cases. There were no significant differences in the appearance of subdural hematoma, which was present in each case. Retinal hemorrhage, which was present in 10 of the 13 shaken-impact cases in which an ophthalmologic examination was conducted, occurred in 2 of the 6 blunt trauma cases. In 1 case, retinal hemorrhage probably had of metabolic origin. Skull fractures with an overlying subgaleal hematoma and a subdural hematoma below the fracture side were found in 5 of the blunt trauma cases but was also seen in the 2 shaken-impact cases with a skull fracture. The most important finding was a lucid interval (LI) in 3 blunt AHT cases. An LI does not seem to occur in shaking injuries because of the immediate and persistent effect of brain damage that such injuries involve. Therefore, LI makes it important to conduct a detailed investigation of the clinical course in time in suspected AHT cases.
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