Topics in Emergency Pediatric Surgery in the Infant and School-Age Population

This article will describe the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of emergency department presentations of common pediatric surgical illnesses seen in early childhood. The 3 conditions chosen are acute abdominal pain from intussusception, gastrointestinal bleed from Meckel's diverticulum, and nonbloody emesis from hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. Each of these disease processes is associated with a common presentation of age, signs, and symptoms. Detailed discussions follow each case presentation to summarize the diagnosis and treatment pathway.