Beyond appendicitis: evaluation and surgical treatment of pediatric acute abdominal pain

[The acute abdomen in children]

BACKGROUND

Because 8-10% of children in the emergency room present with acute abdominal pain, a systematic work-up is essential to rule out acute abdomen.

OBJECTIVES

This article highlights the etiology, symptoms, diagnostic workup, and treatment of acute abdomen in children.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Review of the current literature.

RESULTS

Abdominal inflammation, ischemia, bowel and ureteral obstruction, or abdominal bleeding are causes of acute abdomen. Extra-abdominal diseases such as otitis media in toddlers or testicular torsion in adolescent boys can also lead to symptoms of acute abdomen. Abdominal pain, (bilious) vomiting, abdominal guarding, constipation, blood-tinged stools, abdominal bruise marks, and poor condition of the patient with symptoms such as tachycardia, tachypnea, and hypotonia up to shock are leading symptoms of acute abdomen. In some cases, emergent abdominal surgery is needed to treat the cause of the acute abdomen. However, in patients with pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporarily associated with SARS-CoV‑2 infection (PIMS-TS), a new disease causing an acute abdomen, surgical treatment is rarely needed.

CONCLUSIONS

Acute abdomen can lead to nonreversible loss of an abdominal organ, such as bowel or ovary, or develop into acute deterioration of the patient's condition up to the state of shock. Therefore, a complete history and thorough physical examination are needed to timely diagnose acute abdomen and initiate specific therapy.

Pelvic inflammatory disease in the adolescent and young adult: An update

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is an infection of the female upper genital tract that is typically polymicrobial with classic core involvement of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and/or Chlamydia trachomatis, though other endogenous flora from the vagino-cervical areas can be involved as well. It is often a sexually transmitted disease but other etiologic routes are also noted. A variety of risk factors have been identified including adolescence, young adulthood, adolescent cervical ectropion, multiple sexual partners, immature immune system, history of previous PID, risky contraceptive practices and others. An early diagnosis and prompt treatment are necessary to reduce risks of PID complications such as chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy and infertility. Current management principles of PID are also reviewed. It is important for clinicians to screen sexually active females for common sexually transmitted infections such as Chlamydia trachomatis and provide safer sex education to their adolescent and young adult patients. Clinicians should provide comprehensive management to persons with PID and utilize established guidelines such as those from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Choosing Wisely: Determining performance of unjustified imaging in a large healthcare system

AIMS

The Choosing Wisely Campaign identifies procedures and treatments that lack clinical justification for routine use according to expert opinion and evidence-based medicine. This study describes the rates and features of two such examples over a 10-year period.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional rolling cohort study between 2008 and 2017 in Clalit Health Services, the largest healthcare delivery system in Israel, with seven main hospitals and over 4.5 million members nationwide. All adult members who visited a Clalit Emergency Department (ED), and all children members who visited a Clalit ED for abdominal pain or appendicitis were eligible to be included in this study. Our measures were routine chest radiograph (CXR) in the context of pre-admission assessment for adults and abdominal computed tomography (CT) to rule out appendicitis for children.

RESULTS

Of the 3 689 869 adult visits without a clinical indication for a CXR, 9.1% or 337 058 of them received a chest radiograph. Of the 35 973 children visits for presumed appendicitis, 7.2% of them had no imaging performed, 82.3% had an ultrasound (US), 6.9% had an US followed by a CT, and 3.6% or 1293 of them received a CT. There were several independent risk factors such as BMI, hospital, sex, year and diagnosis that are associated with having imaging that is not clinically indicated.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, this study found that diagnostic imaging practices are applied inconsistently by hospital and by population. Intervention efforts should be focused on subpopulations at greatest risk to further reduce exposure to such imaging.

Streptococcal Pharyngitis and Appendicitis in Children

BACKGROUND

Several pathologies, including pharyngitis, are associated with abdominal pain that can mimic appendicitis. We sought to further understand the link between appendicitis-like symptoms and streptococcal (strep) pharyngitis.

METHODS

All patients undergoing ultrasound imaging for appendicitis in our emergency department during 2013 were reviewed (n = 1572). A total of 207 patients were identified who underwent both ultrasound for appendicitis and testing for strep pharyngitis. Demographic and outcomes data between rule out appendicitis patients who underwent strep testing and those who did not were compared.

RESULTS

Strep testing was more common in younger patients (mean age = 8.26 vs 10.26 years P < .001) and evenly matched by gender (104 male, 103 female). Of the 207 patients tested for strep pharyngitis, 8 (3.9%) patients had appendicitis and 35 (16.9%) patients tested positive for strep pharyngitis. No cases of concurrent strep pharyngitis and appendicitis were identified. The negative appendectomy rate in the strep pharyngitis tested group was 38.5% (5/13), compared with 7.7% (23/296) ( P = .003) in the nontested group. The appendicitis rate among the strep tested group was 3.8% (8/207) compared with 20% (273/1365) in the nontested group ( P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients undergoing testing for strep pharyngitis were younger, had lower rates of appendicitis, and had a higher rate of negative appendectomy. A diagnosis of concurrent appendicitis and strep pharyngitis is rare. In cases of patients with sufficient symptoms to warrant testing for strep pharyngitis a diagnosis of appendicitis is less likely and surgical intervention leads to higher negative appendectomy rates.

Managing acute abdominal pain in pediatric patients: current perspectives

Acute abdominal pain in pediatric patients has been a challenge for providers because of the nonspecific nature of symptoms and difficulty in the assessment and physical examination in children. Although most children with acute abdominal pain have self-limited benign conditions, pain may be a manifestation of an urgent surgical or medical condition where the biggest challenge is making a timely diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be initiated without any diagnostic delays that increase morbidity. This is weighed against the need to decrease radiation exposure and avoid unnecessary operations. Across all age groups, there are numerous conditions that present with abdominal pain ranging from a very simple viral illness to a life-threatening surgical condition. It is proposed that the history, physical examination, laboratory tests, and imaging studies should initially be directed at differentiating surgical versus nonsurgical conditions both categorized as urgent versus nonurgent. The features of the history including patient’s age, physical examination focused toward serious conditions, and appropriate tests are highlighted in the context of making these differentiations. Initial testing and management is also discussed with an emphasis on making use of surgeon and radiologist consultation and the need for adequate follow-up and reevaluation of the patient.

C1-esterase inhibitor deficiency in pediatric heart transplant recipients: incidence and findings on ultrasound

BACKGROUND

Acquired angioedema of the bowel caused by a deficiency of C1-esterase inhibitor can lead to severe abdominal pain with sudden onset, mimicking an acute surgical abdomen. In contrast to hereditary angioedema, which usually manifests in childhood, acquired angioedema is broadly recognized to affect people older than 40 years.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the incidence of acquired angioedema in a cohort of pediatric heart transplant recipients and assess imaging findings on ultrasonography.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cohort of 207 children and adolescents who had undergone heart transplantation were assessed at regular follow-up examinations for incidence of acquired angioedema. All patients received ACE inhibitors and immune inhibitors. Control examinations carried out in 3-month intervals included history, assessment of clinical symptoms, physical examination, US of the abdomen and laboratory blood analysis. In addition, if clinical symptoms were newly encountered, children were admitted between regularly scheduled intervals. We analyzed results of abdominal US for pathological findings of the bowel, and we assessed imaging findings in children diagnosed with acquired angioedema.

RESULTS

Acquired angioedema was diagnosed in 3/207 patients (2 girls ages 16 and 17 years and 1 boy age 9 months). These children presented with sudden onset of severe abdominal pain. The bowel wall was thickened in the presence of ascites. After a mean of 72 h, abdominal pains resolved. Thickening of bowel loops dissolved and ascites disappeared.

CONCLUSION

Single episodes of acquired angioedema were encountered in 1.4% of our series of pediatric heart transplant recipients. Radiologists should be familiar with this disease so they can diagnose it on US imaging.

Acute abdominal pain in children

Acute abdominal pain is a common complaint in childhood, and it can be caused by a wide range of underlying surgical and non-surgical conditions. The most common non-surgical condition is gastroenteritis, while the most common surgical condition is appendicitis. Abdominal pain in children varies with age, associated symptoms, and pain location. Although acute abdominal pain is usually benign and self-limiting, there are uncommon but life-threatening conditions that require urgent care. Meticulous history taking and physical examinations are essential to determine the cause of acute abdominal pain and to identify children with surgical conditions such as appendicitis.