J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 121(5): 497-502, 2020

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Feature topic

HISTORY OF ACUTE ABDOMEN IN CHILDREN

The term “acute abdomen” was first used in the early 1900s. Herzfeld reported 753 pediatric cases of acute abdomen in 1939. The three major conditions in which acute abdomen occurs in children are appendicitis, intussusception, and intestinal obstruction. It is difficult to obtain sufficient diagnostic results from the history of symptoms and physical examination of infants and small children with acute abdomen. In reviewing the history of medical care for acute abdomen and of imaging studies from the 1980s onward, ultrasound and computed tomography play especially important roles in the diagnosis of acute abdomen in children. Laparoscopic surgery techniques introduced from the early 1990s opened a new era in the treatment of acute abdomen in pediatrics.

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