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A broad knowledge of differential diagnoses including rare pathologies like urethral prolapse and failure of the midline fusion of the perineum, known as perineal groove, is essential in order to avoid unnecessary diagnostics and treatment, prejudgment, and to reduce patient family\u2019s anxiety. We report two independent cases of girls aged 7\u00a0months and 5\u00a0years suffering from these rare pathologies, one presenting with painless lower genital tract bleeding, the other showing a lesion of the perineum as random finding during a neuropediatrician\u2019s consultation. In both cases, the pathologies were initially misdiagnosed as injuries due to sexual assault, and judicial investigation procedures were initiated. In this paper, the characteristic symptoms and morphology of urethral prolapse and perineal groove are presented to enhance the awareness of these pathologies among forensic experts and help to establish the correct diagnosis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00414-021-02621-z","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,31]],"date-time":"2021-05-31T08:02:46Z","timestamp":1622448166000},"page":"623-627","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Rare (uro-)genital pathologies in young girls mimicking sexual abuse"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"136","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0685-7350","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martine","family":"Schaul","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thorsten","family":"Schwark","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"2621_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"604","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpag.2016.05.001","volume":"29","author":"HR Gallion","year":"2016","unstructured":"Gallion HR, Milam LJ, Littrell LL (2016) Genital findings in cases of child sexual abuse: genital vs vaginal penetration. 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