Management of Non-Traumatic Acute Abdominal Pain in Children: The Couple Standard Radiography/Ultrasound, Is It Still Relevant?

Objective: To evaluate the contribution of the standard radiography-ultrasound couple in the assessment of nontraumatic acute abdominal pain in children. Patient and Method: A retrospective study was carried out on a period of 2 years in the departments of radiology and pediatric surgery at the university hospital of Yopougon (Abidjan, Ivory Coast). It concerned 93 children hospitalized with acute nontraumatic abdominal pain in whom it was performed a laparotomy after a radiological diagnosis. Results: The mean age was 6.8 years old and the sex ratio was 1.5. The diffuse abdominal pain was the most common ground for admission (43.3%) and abdominal ultrasonography was the most requested examination (51.6%). The objectified etiologies were respectively appendicitis (32.2%), peritonitis (27.9%), the acute intussusception (13.9%), occlusion (12.9%), hypertrophic stenosis pylorus (7.5%), cholecystitis (3.2%) and the mesenteric adenolymphitis (3.2%). The positive predictive value of radiological findings was greater than 85%. Conclusion: The standard radiography-ultrasound couple remains essential in the treatment of nontraumatic abdominal pain of the child with a positive predictive value of 85%.