Primary omental torsion in children

A retrospective review was conducted to establish the prevalence and clinical features of omental torsion or infarction as a cause of acute abdominal pain in childhood.

The case records were analysed for all patients admitted with primary omental pathology to the Department of General Surgery, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, between January 1975 and July 1994.

From 1975 to 1994 (20 years) 13 children were admitted to our General Surgical Department with primary omental disease. There were nine males and four females under 16 years of age. The presenting complaint was abdominal pain with vomiting or diarrhoea. Four children had major medical conditions. Pre-operative diagnosis in all cases was acute appendicitis. Appendicectomy and omentectomy were performed without complication in all cases. Histology of the omentum demonstrated torsion, infarction or haemorrhage.

All children presented with features of acute appendicitis, a majority were male, and two out of the 13 patients were obese. The absence of any children under 4 years was consistent with the relative paucity of omental fat in younger children. We found no clear mechanism for primary omental torsion, although rotation around the right epiploic artery was observed.