title: Spinal epidural abscess presenting as acute abdomen in a child.
abstract: Spinal epidural abscess is seldom encountered in children and rarely occurs in the absence of spinal pain. A case is described in which a child with a thoracic epidural abscess presented with abdominal rather than spinal pain. Thoracolumbar radicular inflammation and visceroparietal reflexes initiated by a s'spinal ileus' probably produced the symptoms and signs of acute intra-abdominal disease. Consideration of intraspinal disease is advisable in all cases of acute abdomen which exhibit atypical features.
mesh_terms: D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000209:etiology*; D000038:Abscess / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D004824:Epidural Space; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000150:complications*