MED INSIDER–DR RIA MASLOG
Abdominal Pain
Abdominal pain is a common symptom of childhood that could be the reason for the child’s being absent from school and for parents to bring the child to the clinic for check up.
This symptom of abdominal pain could be due to a disturbance from a variety of organ system that may include: the digestive system, urinary system, and the respiratory system.
Upon history taking, the pediatrician will ask the following: the characteristic of the pain, the localization of the pain, the onset of the pain, the radiation of the pain, and the duration of the pain.
Sharp localized pain may come from the skin and the muscle while dull and poorly localized pain may come from the visceral and peritonuem.
Moreover, we also ask for concomittant problems like: – fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and respiratory difficulty.
The common cause of abdominal pain according to age group are:
1. during early infancy – abdominal colic in 10-15%, incarcerated inguinal hernia, torsion of the testicle, gastroenteritis, intolerance, overfeeding and intussusception in older healthy infants
2. for a reschool child of 2-5 years – acute gastroenteritis, mesenteric lymphadenitis, acute appendicitis, intestinal parasitism, lobar pneumonia, pyelonephritis, hydronephrosis, choledochal cyst, cholelithiasis, pancreatitis, volvulus, meckel’s diverticulitis, diabetes and
rheumatic fever.
3. for a school age or teenage patient – in addition to those mentioned among the preschool age group: menstrual cycle – “ Mittelsmerz phenomenon”, acute renal colic maybe due to stones in the urinary tract
After thorough history taking, the pediatrician will do careful physical examination and will order laboratories like radiographic examinations, complete blood count and urinalysis that may help to ascertain diagnosis.