Epiploic appendicitis a rare cause of acute abdomen in children. Report of a case and review of the literature

Epiploic appendicitis is a hemorrhagic infarction of an epiploic appendix, caused by a spontaneous twist or thrombosis. Usually the diagnosis is incidental in abdominal radiological studies performed for other causes of acute abdominal pain, its important to keep in mind entity, A correct diagnosis makes avoids hospitalization and surgery. Epiploic appendicitis usually resolves in 5-7 days. It is treated usually only with analgesics. Most cases are described in adults but in our institution is the second diagnosed case. CLINICAL CASE: We present a 9 year old male patient with a presumptive diagnosis of appendicitis. The definitive diagnos is was made with ultrasound tomography with which an omental appendicitis was documented. It was corroborated by pathologic examination. CONCLUSIONS: Our purpose is to describe the epiploic appendicitis in children as a cause of acute abdomen, as well as clinical, ultrasonographic, computed tomography and histopathology findings of this disease as a rare cause of acute abdomen. It is important to emphasize the value of imaging studies of this entity, in order to avoid unnecessary surgical procedure is known.