Primary omental torsion in a pediatric patient

Primary omental torsion in children: single-center experience of 17 cases

OBJECTIVE

Primary omental torsion (POT) is a rare condition in children often misdiagnosed because of a lack of clinical manifestations. Here we present insights gained from the treatment of pediatric POT cases at a single center over 8 years and summarize some influencing factors found in diagnosis and treatment, in order to reduce the misdiagnosis of POT in children in the future.

METHODS

Demographic and clinical data of 17 children with POT treated in Shanghai Children's Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University from June 2012 to December 2020 were reviewed.

RESULTS

The mean age of the 17 pediatric patients was 7.65 ± 2.12 years (range: 4-12 years), sixteen were male. The average time from the pain onset to operation was 73.82 ± 47.21 h (range: 21-144 h). In 5 cases, the ultrasound scan revealed a low-intensity inflammatory mass in the abdominal cavity. Only 1 of the 17 patients had normal body mass index, while others were overweight or obese. The mean computed tomography (CT) value of the mass in the lower right abdomen was - 58.74 ± 10.32 HU (range: - 70 to - 46 HU), which is close to that of its own abdominal wall fat [- 46.29 ± 9.45 HU (range: - 62 to - 32 HU)]. The location of the mass was located in front of the right colon in ten cases, except for two cases near the ligamentum teres. Five patients had whirl sign on CT images and 8 patients had pelvic fluid. Five cases were diagnosed as acute appendicitis and 12 were diagnosed as POT, the preoperative diagnosis was correct in 70.59% of cases. All 17 patients were treated with laparoscopic omentectomy. The average duration of hospitalization was 5.53 ± 1.12 days (range: 4-8 days). All cases were followed up. 1 case relapsed 8 months post operation, while the remaining cases had no complications.

CONCLUSION

POT is rare in children with acute abdominal pain, which is more common in obese boys. The fatty mass in front of colon and between rectus abdominis sheath in CT image is specific, which is helpful for diagnosis of POT. Laparoscopy is an effective method for the treatment of POT in children.

Omental Infarction in a Child-Conservative Management as an Effective and Safe Strategy in Diagnosis and Treatment

Omental infarction (OI) is a rare disease occurring in children. Important risk factors include overweight and obesity. The clinical presentation is often non-specific, and the main symptom is acute abdominal pain. In addition, infarcted omentum may present with fever, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and dysuria. Due to the localisation of the pain, OI should be differentiated from acute appendicitis. The diagnosis of OI is sometimes made intraoperatively, during appendectomy for suspected acute appendicitis. Hence, it is important to state a correct preoperative diagnosis, which is commonly based on abdominal ultrasound and computed tomography. The treatment of OI is still inconclusive. Both conservative and surgical treatments are used. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. The decision of which treatment to follow should be multifactorial and include the patient’s clinical condition at the time of admission, the progression or regression of symptoms during hospitalization and laboratory and imaging findings. We present a clinical case of a 9-year-old overweight girl with OI, whose diagnosis was based on imaging diagnostics and enabled conservative treatment with no complications. The case we have described confirms that the conservative treatment is an effective and safe therapy.