Shaken baby syndrome (SBS)

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a triad of medical findings: subdural hematoma, retinal hemorrhage, and cerebral edema from which some physicians, consistent with current medical understanding, infer child abuse caused by intentional shaking. In a majority of cases there is no visible sign of external trauma.

In 1946, the concept of SBS and the term “whiplash shaken infant syndrome” was introduced by Dr. John Caffey, a pediatric radiologist. The term described a set of symptoms found with little or no external evidence of head trauma, including retinal hemorrhages and intracranial hemorrhages with subdural or subarachnoid bleeding or both.

In 1971, Dr. Norman Guthkelch proposed that whiplash injury caused subdural hemorrhage in infants by tearing the veins in the subdural space