Abstract

Objective: We aimed to analyse the clinical spectrum, physical examination, laboratory and imaging findings of the children, admitted to emergency room (ER) because of acute abdominal pain, in the last one year in our study.
Material and Method: Four hundred fifty one patients, admitted to ER were analysed in terms of demographic properties, etiology, physical examination, laboratory and imaging results and course of the disease from the records of the patients between the dates of january 2012- december 2012, retrospectively.
Results: 3700 of 94750 patients (3.9%) were taken to ER because of acute abdominal pain and 451 of them (12.2%) were observed in ER. The mean age was 7.01±1.62 years, and female/male ratio was 1.6. Vomiting was the most common symptom, accompanied to abdominal pain (45.4%). Off all the patients, 21.5% (n=97 patients) had history of recurrent abdominal pain and 29.9% of them (n=29 patients) diagnosed Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF). Laboratory findings did not help us to determine the etiology in 74.9% of the patients (n=338 patients). Abdominal ultrasonography was performed on 26.82% (n=121 patients) of the patients and 46.7% of them (n=64 patients) were normal and 26.2% of them (n=36 patients) showed mesenteric lymphadenitis. Surgical causes was found in 11.6% of the patients (n=51 patients), the most common cause was acute appendicitis. Ultrasonographic findings helped the diagnosis in 71.4% of the patients requiring surgical intervention. The etiology wasn’t found in 12.6% (n=57 patients) of the children. Acute gastroenteritis was the most common cause among non-surgical reasons. 12.8% of the children (n=58 patients) were hospitalised.
Conclusion: The most common cause of acute abdominal pain was non-surgical causes in ER. USG findings supported the diagnosis in patients requiring surgical intervention.

Key words: Acute abdominal pain, child, emergency room