Association of pain and abdominal mass in children. Presentation of two clinical cases

Abstract

Abdominal pain is one of the most frequent reasons for a Paediatric consultation. The association of a palpable abdominal mass is a relevant finding that forces us to preferentially carry out a complete examination, being a priority to rule out malignancy or other complications such as compression of vital organs. Most of the cases correspond to benign processes, being more frequent in children under 5 years of age. Two clinical cases of children whose initial symptom was abdominal pain with the finding of an abdominal mass and final diagnosis of serious pathologies are described below. The first case is a 3-year-old boy who underwent emergency surgery for acute abdomen, in whose surgery an abdominal mass was found and the diagnosis of retroperitoneal cystic lymphangioma was finally reached. The second case is a 9-year-old boy with long-standing, progressive increase in abdominal pain with a finding of a palpable abdominal mass on physical examination, who was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma.