Appendiceal Colic in Children Is It A True Surgical Entity英文文献资料.docVIP

Surgical Science, 2012, 3, 399-402 /10.4236/ss.2012.38079 Published Online May 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ss) Appendiceal Colic in Children: Is It a True Surgical Entity? Jason Marone , Domingo Alvear * Department of Surgery, Pinnacle Health, Harrisburg, USA Email: jmarone@ * Received December 15, 2011; revised January 30, 2012; accepted February 19, 2012 ABSTRACT Background/Purpose: For decades children have been crowding the offices of Pediatricians’ and Pediatric Surgeons with a common complaint of unexplained recurrent right lower quadrant pain. For years the topic of appendiceal colic as a cause for this recurrent abdominal pain has remain controversial. This paper highlights the experience of a single surgeon over a 5-year period using an algorithmic approach to diagnose and treat children with appendiceal colic. Me- thods: This is a retrospective review of 31 consecutive cases of patients experiencing recurrent unexplained right lower quadrant abdominal pain for greater than three weeks. All patients were evaluated by a single surgeon at the same insti- tution. The patients meeting the criteria for appendiceal colic had an elective open appendectomy. The data included was compiled by a retrospective chart review from Jan. 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2010. Results: Twelve percent or 31 of the 238 elective appendectomies done between Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2010 where done for appendiceal colic. Sixteen were fe- males and 15 where males ranging in age from 5 - 17 years of age. Average duration of symptoms was 3 weeks to 5 years. All patients had previous work up most of which where inconclusive for an organic cause. All patients presented with colic and McBurney’s point tenderness. On pathological examination the presence of a fecalith, inspissated stool or fibrosis were the most common findings. A normal appendix was observed in 14% of the cases. 100% of the patients were symptom free with three months of operation.