ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is to date a global pandemic that can affect all age groups; gastrointestinal symptoms are quite common in patients with COVID-19 and a new clinical entity defined as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) has been described in children and adolescents previously affected by COVID-19. Presenting symptoms of this new disease include high fever and severe abdominal pain that can mimic more common causes of abdominal pain; patients can rapidly deteriorate presenting severe cardiac dysfunction and multiorgan failure. Some fatalities due to this serious illness have been reported. We describe the case of a ten-year-old patient presenting with persistent high fever associated with continuous and worsening abdominal pain. Various hypotheses were performed during his diagnostic workup and an initial appendectomy was performed in the suspect of acute appendicitis. As his clinical picture deteriorated, the child was subsequently diagnosed and successfully treated as a case of MIS-C. The objective of this case report and brief review of abdominal pain in children throughout the age groups is to provide the emergency pediatrician with updated suggestions in diagnosing abdominal pain in children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Subject(s)
Abdominal Pain/etiology , COVID-19/complications , Pediatric Emergency Medicine/statistics & numerical data , Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome/diagnosis , Abdominal Pain/diagnosis , Acute Disease , Appendectomy/methods , Appendicitis/diagnosis , Appendicitis/surgery , COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/pathology , COVID-19/therapy , COVID-19/virology , Combined Modality Therapy , Conjunctivitis/etiology , Dyspnea/diagnosis , Dyspnea/therapy , Fever/diagnosis , Fever/etiology , Humans , Immunoglobulins, Intravenous/administration & dosage , Immunoglobulins, Intravenous/therapeutic use , Male , Mucositis/etiology , Oxygen/therapeutic use , Pediatric Emergency Medicine/trends , Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors/therapeutic use , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , Steroids/therapeutic use , Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome/complications , Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome/pathology , Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome/therapy , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To document the lived experience of Italian pediatric emergency physicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: We developed a structured interview to collect the lived experience of the staff of the pediatric emergency department (PED) of a tertiary referral university hospital in Northern Italy. The open-ended questions were draft according to the suggestions of Canadian colleagues and administered by 1 interviewer, who was part of the PED staff, at the end of March 2020. All the PED staff was interviewed, on a voluntary basis, using purposive sampling. RESULTS: Most respondents declared to be afraid of becoming infected and of infecting their families. The number of patients seen in the PED has decreased, and the cases tend to be more severe. A shift in the clinical approach to the ill child has occurred, the physical examination is problem-oriented, aiming to avoid un-necessary maneuvers and to minimize the number of practitioners involved. The most challenging aspects reported are: (1) performing a physical examination in personal protective equipment (PPE), (2) being updated with rapidly evolving guidelines, and (3) staying focused on the possible COVID-19 clinical presentation without failing in differential diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems that pediatric emergency physicians are radically changing their clinical practice, aiming at prioritizing essential interventions and maneuvers and self-protection.