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.
Gómez-Vargas J.
Antúnez-Montes O.Y.
Rios Aida J.A.
Arteaga-Menchaca E.
Uribe F.
Díaz 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
Pediatría Epidemiología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85115654249
PubMed ID
Source
Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal
ISSN of the container
08913668
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus