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PEDIATRICS Vol. 110 No. 2 August 2002, pp. e16-e16

ELECTRONIC ARTICLE

Genital Injuries in Prepubertal Girls From Inline Skating Accidents

Bernhard Herrmann, MD* and James Crawford, MD{ddagger}

* Department of Pediatrics, Klinikum Kassel, Germany
{ddagger} Center for Child Protection, Children’s Hospital, Oakland, California

We report 2 cases where accidents from inline skating resulted in significant genital injury to female children. When genital trauma occurs in children, it frequently raises the concern that sexual abuse might have caused the injury. Historical information provided by the child and others must be compared with the injuries to understand whether an injury may be the result of abuse. We characterize the nature of the genital injuries of our cases as being caused by an accidental "rapid-splits" type mechanism while children were using inline skates. We conclude that the reported accidental mechanism caused the identified injuries. Distinguishing accidental from abusive causes of genital trauma is critical. We report these cases, as there are no reports in the literature regarding this accidental mechanism of injury.

Key Words: child sexual abuse • differential diagnosis • inline skating injuries • children

Received for publication Dec 4, 2002; Accepted May 9, 2002.