Imaging and the Child with Abdominal Pain

PJ Strouse
Correspondence: Peter J. Strouse, pstrouse@umich.edu

ABSTRACT
Abdominal pain is a common presenting symptom in children. A substantial percent of unscheduled paediatric office visits and paediatric emergency room visits are due to abdominal pain. Children may present with an acute episode of pain or with chronic, recurrent pain. Only a small fraction of children presenting with abdominal pain will prove to have an organic cause necessitating interventional management. In this essay, a discussion of abdominal pain is presented, with particular emphasis on the role of radiologic imaging tests to investigate potential causes of abdominal pain. The more common and clinically significant causes of abdominal pain in a child will be discussed in greater detail.

Keywords: children, abdomen, pain, imaging
Singapore Med J 2003; 44(6): 312-322