Publication:

Study on clinical profile and management of abdominal tumours in children

Background The discovery of an abdominal mass in a child usually presents a challenging problem in the diagnosis and treatment to the paediatrician, surgeon and urologist. Because of the heterogenicity of the lesion knowledge of differential of a mass in abdomen is essential for the logical evaluation of a child.

Methods The present study comprises of 25 children who presented with an intra-abdominal mass were included. The medical causes of the abdominal masses i.e. hepatosplenomegaly and leukemias were excluded. All patients admitted were routine investigated and whichever necessary. After the diagnosis, surgery was done wherever indicated and post-operatively the diagnosis was confirmed after the histopathological report.

Results All the cases presented with mass in abdomen while the other presentations were pain in abdomen (36%), fever (20%) and haematuria and vomiting (16% each). It was found that 64% of the masses were urological in origin while 36% of the masses were non-urological in origin. 21 (84%) patients underwent surgery, 10 (40%) patients took chemotherapy, 9 (36%) patients took radiotherapy.

Conclusions Routine investigations were only helpful in diagnosing the infection in infecting cases. Most reliable specific investigation was intravenous pyelography. It was found that majority of the abdominal masses in children were arising from urinary system. Correlation between pre-operative and post-operative diagnosis was found almost consistent.