SPINAL EPIDURAL ABSCESS PRESENTING AS ACUTE ABDOMEN IN A CHILD

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 refexes initiated by a ‘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. Copyright © 1979 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd.