Publication Date
11-1-2022
Journal
JPGN Reports
DOI
10.1097/PG9.0000000000000271
PMID
37168476
PMCID
PMC10158367
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
11-8-2022
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Published Open-Access
yes
Keywords
abdominal pain, adolescent, constipation, salpingitis
Abstract
Abdominal pain is one of the most common presenting complaints in the emergency room for pediatric patients. While constipation is one of the most common causes for abdominal pain in pediatrics, serious intra-abdominal pathology must always be excluded. We report a pre-coital post-menarchal adolescent female who presented with severe abdominal pain and constipation and had radiographic findings of salpingitis. It was suspected that uterine and adnexal changes seen on imaging resulted from the fecal mass compressing the genitourinary tract leading to fluid collection manifesting as radiographic evidence of salpingitis. This mechanism is similar to bladder outlet obstruction resulting from compression by intestinal stool burden, leading to urinary stasis, bacteriuria, and ascending urinary tract infection. This case demonstrates how a common pediatric problem, constipation, can lead to a condition rarely found in the pre-coital adolescent population.