Acute Abdomen and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children with COVID-19: A Case Report and Review of Pathophysiology, Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Abdominal Radiology

Acute Abdomen and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children with COVID-19: A Case Report and Review of Pathophysiology, Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Abdominal Radiology

Author Info

Corresponding Author
Noela Carrera-Guermeur
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Toledo, Toledo, Spain

A B S T R A C T

Introduction: Pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) account for less than 5% of the total incidence. The scientific literature reports that most patients are asymptomatic or present mild symptoms. However, they may only manifest gastrointestinal symptoms and even present an acute abdomen; a severe form of presentation has been reported, called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Case Presentation: We report a 10-year-old girl who presents COVID-19 in the form of an acute abdomen because of severe sigmoiditis who developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome together with shock. The patient fully recovered without sequelae with medical treatment. We provide computed tomography and ultrasound images and review scientific information available on gastrointestinal COVID-19 pathophysiology from the pediatric point of view. Conclusion: A high index of suspicion is needed for diagnosing COVID-19 in the event of any pediatric acute abdomen during the pandemic, and screening should be undertaken even without an epidemiologic setting and in the absence of respiratory symptoms or radiologic chest signs because acute abdomen could be a clinical presentation of MIS-C in children.

Article Info

Article Type
Case Report and Review of the Literature
Publication history
Received: Thu 01, Jul 2021
Accepted: Thu 15, Jul 2021
Published: Mon 02, Aug 2021
Copyright
© 2023 Noela Carrera-Guermeur. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.SCR.2021.08.01