Hi, this is Tom, and in this episode I'm going to be going through abdominal pain in children,

and you can find notes at zero to finals.com and in the zero to finals pediatrics book,

and you can find flashcards and questions at members.0.0 tofinals.com. And at the end of the episode, we'll go through some

questions so you can test yourself on what you just heard. So let's jump straight in. Abdominal pain is a

very common presentation in children and has a very long list of causes. A detailed history and

examination are required to distinguish between the

causes. In exams, specific features and associations will help you to identify the underlying cause.

Let's go through the causes. The causes of acute abdominal pain, meaning a relatively new and rapid onset of

abdominal pain, include urinary tract infections, and this typically causes superpubic pain

associated with dysuria or pain on passing urine, and urinary frequency and urgency,

pylenephritis, which involves loin or back pain associated with fever, nausea or vomiting,

gastroenteritis, which involves generalized abdominal pain associated with fever, vomiting, and

diarrhea, appendicitis, which typically gives central abdominal pain spreading down to the right

iliac phosar, mesenteric adenitis, which is similar in presentation to appendicitis, and is often associated with a

recent upper respiratory tract infection, interception, which gives a colicky, non-specific abdominal pain

with red-current jelly stools,

bowel obstruction, which gives a generalized abdominal pain associated with abdominal

distension, absolute constipation, meaning no stools or flatus, and vomiting,

and testicular torsion, which gives a sudden onset unilateral testicular pain

associated with nausea and vomiting. Causes of chronic abdominal pain in children include

functional abdominal pain where there's no cause found to explain the pain,

constipation, which is associated with infrequent hard stools and straining,

...