Bruise Case Study 1. Leah has some of the symptoms of shaken baby syndrome such as the bleeding behind the eye and some brain injury. Bruises may also indicate some kind of abuse. However, Leah only shows these symptoms and does not so any of the other symptoms such as vomiting, poor appetite, sluggishness, loss of consciousness, or a slowed heart rate. With only two real symptoms a true and valid diagnosis cannot be determined, but there are symptoms that do match up with shaken baby syndrome. 2. A) Subdural hematoma is usually associated with brain injury. It is when blood gathers around the outer meningeal layer between the dura mater and the arachnoid mater. This tends to result from rips and tears in veins that cross the subdural space and will increase intracranial pressure.
B) Shaken baby syndrome can lead to this because a baby is abused. The blows dealt to the head may tear and rip the crossing veins in the subdural space and that will cause blood to leak into the space mentioned above. Commonly known as a bruise, a subdural hematoma is formed.
C) As mentioned in section A, subdural hematomas cause an increase in intracranial pressure. This is because blood leaks into the cranial space and can push the brain against one side of the skull causing more damage. If the problem persists then the pressure will continue to build and if the pressure gets to high death is a possibility. 3. Leah may have scratched her own face. This is because she had increased pressure in her skull so her head probably hurt a lot. As a baby she didn’t know how to relieve the pain aside from itching it, so she continued to scratch her face in an attempt to relieve the pain. This, however, would do no good. 4. The three phases of hemostasis are vasoconstriction, platelet plug formation, and then clotting of blood. Vasoconstriction is the step in which vessels slow the flow of blood to limit the amount of blood loss. Platelet plug formation is when thrombocytes attach to collagen and activate to bring more platelets to the location. The process of blood clotting begins with the creation of fibrin fibers from fibrinogen. The process of removing the caps from fibrinogen requires thrombin and calcium to form the polymer. After the strands are made factor XIII is needed to stabilize and trap the erythrocytes thus clotting. Some essential components are vitamin K to mature some clotting factors, calcium to from fibrin, and a lot of clotting factors and their precursors. 5. Liver disease could have caused her death because of the bile production. The liver synthesizes bile and secretes it into the small intestines in which they help in absorbing lipids and