Palpable abdominal masses in children at the Pediatric University Hospital Charles-de-Gaulle in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

Abstract

The discovery of an abdominal mass in a child is not exceptional but constitutes a serious event for the family as well as for the practitioner. The objective of the present work was to study the epidemiological and diagnostic aspects of palpable abdominal masses in children at the Charles-de-Gaulle Pediatric University Hospital in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. It has been about retrospective and descriptive cross-sectional study covered a period of two years and a half including children aged between zero and 15 years, hospitalized in the pediatric medical service. Were included, children with palpable abdominal masses confirmed on imaging. One hundred and eleven patients have been included. the hospital frequency was 44 cases per year. The average age of our patients was 6.2 years, ranging from 18 days and 15 years. The sex ratio was 1.2. The main warning signs were increasing the volume of the abdomen (45.1%), fever (43.2%) and abdominal pain (39.6%). Ultrasonography was performed in 98.2% of patients. The masses were mostly intraperitoneal (63.9%). The hepatic origin was the most represented (40.5%). The masses were malignant in 50.5% of cases. Before one year of age, the benign nature was most represented (80%). In second childhood, the most common etiology was represented by lymphoma in 20.4% with predominance of malignant masses. Chemotherapy was used in 53.6% of patients with malignant masses. In the light of the results, it appears that the etiologies of palpable abdominal masses are often malignant in our context, thus requiring prompt diagnosis and urgent care.