Title
Acute Abdomen and Appendicitis in 1010 Pediatric Patients with COVID-19 or MIS-C: A Multinational Experience from Latin America
Date Issued
01 January 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Yock-Corrales A.
Lenzi J.
Ulloa-Gutiérrez R.
GĂ³mez-Vargas J.
AntĂºnez-Montes O.Y.
Rios Aida J.A.
Arteaga-Menchaca E.
Uribe F.
DĂ­az R.H.
Buitrago A.P.
Londoño L.M.B.
Kozicki V.
Brizuela M.
Buonsenso D.
Publisher(s)
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins
Abstract
Background: To date, there are only sporadic reports of acute abdomen and appendicitis in children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Methods: Children 17 years of age or younger assessed in 5 Latin American countries with a diagnosis of microbiologically confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and children fulfilling MIS-C definition were included. For children with acute abdomen, we investigate main radiologic patterns, surgical treatment and intraoperative findings, outcomes. Findings: One-thousand ten children were enrolled. Forty-two children (4.2%) had a clinical diagnosis of acute abdomen. Four (9.5%) were diagnosed with MIS-C and did not undergo surgery. The remaining 38 children (3.8%) underwent abdominal surgery due to suspected appendicitis, 34 of them (89.7%) had an intraoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA), while 4 of them had nonsurgical findings. Eight children died (0.8%), none of them being diagnosed with appendicitis. Children with AA were significantly older than those without (P < 0.0001). Children with complicated appendicitis had more frequently fever (85.7% vs. 60%), intestinal distension on the abdominal radiograph (7.1% vs. none), leukocytosis (85.7% vs. 40%) and high levels of C-reactive protein (35.7% vs. 5%), although differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Our study showed that children may present with acute abdomen during COVID-19 or MIS-C, which is not always associated with intraoperative findings of appendicitis, particularly in case of MIS-C. Further studies are needed to better characterize children with acute abdomen during COVID-19 or MIS-C, to avoid delay in diagnosis of surgical conditions and at the same time, minimize unnecessary surgical approaches.
Start page
E364
End page
E369
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
PediatrĂ­a EpidemiologĂ­a
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85115654249
PubMed ID
Source
Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal
ISSN of the container
08913668
Sources of information: Directorio de ProducciĂ³n CientĂ­fica Scopus