Demonstration using a doll

A life-like model built by a UQ research team comprising civil engineers and a child health expert is helping show how quickly Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) can damage the brain of an infant.

Their work could help form guidelines for caring for and handling babies; allow more accurate evidence to be given in suspected abuse cases; and help develop safer play equipment.

The researchers have been using a replica of a six-week-old baby.  They are working on a numerical model that will tell when a baby’s brain could be damaged by violent shaking.

The team records the doll’s head and neck movements when it is shaken and compares the results with brain scans and video of injured babies.

“From our analysis, we can predict what sort of stresses are within the brain and these stresses will tell us whether there are injuries,” civil engineering PhD student Zac Couper said.

Mr Couper is working with his supervisor Dr Faris Albermani and Department of Child Health Clinical Associate Professor Denis Stark.

Dr Albermani became involved in the project when Dr Stark approached UQ’s Department of Civil Engineering to see if it was possible to simulate the mechanics of SBS, which results in the swelling of a baby’s brain and also triggers internal bleeding.

It causes death in one third of cases, while some babies end up with brain damage.

Dr Faris Albermani www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/albermanifga.html

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