Abdominal emergencies in infancy and childhood

Abstract

The well-known phrase that children are not small adults is eminently applicable to pediatric abdominal emergencies, not only because of differences in physiology and metabolism,but also because of a different clinical spectrum of abdominal emergencies,their presentation and management. This chapter focuses on abdominal surgical emergencies in infants and small children.Neonatal emergencies are omitted, as you are unlikely to encounter them unless you are a specialist pediatric surgeon. The first principle to remember is that you are less likely to commit an error if you consider an atypical presentation of a common condition than a typical presentation of a rare condition. Translating this principle into clinical reality, a pediatric acute abdomen is intussusception in infancy or appendicitis in childhood-until proven otherwise.Another principle is that,much like with adults, watchful waiting is a prudent strategy in children. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.