CLINICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE SURGICAL TREATMENT OF CHRONIC ABDOMINAL SYNDROME IN CHILDREN

Abstract

The chronic recurrent abdominal syndrome (CRAS) in the right lower fossa in children is believed not to be independent nosological unit and is diagnosed as an exception. We carried out comparative studies of the clinical picture, results of morphological and immunohistochemical studies of remote appendicitis in 55 CRAS children and 35 children with acute destructive appendicitis. The low prognostic significance of appendicular scales for the determination of indications to the surgical treatment of CRAS was established. Morphological examination in most cases revealed signs of chronic inflammation with fibrosis of the mucosa and submucosa of the appendix in CRAS children. Immunohistochemical studies revealed the pronounced expression of protein VEGF, MMP-9 and VCAM-1 predominantly in the submucosal and the muscular layer, moderate expression for Collagen-III-alpha-1. The low number of positively stained cells for the VIP protein located both in the mucosa and in the submucosa. The number of MMP-9-positive cells was the largest, there was seen a moderate amount of VEGF, VIP and Collagen-III-alpha-1-positive cells. The disappearance of the abdominal syndrome after appendectomy was noted in 6% of CRAS patients. Recurrence of pain was observed in girls of pubertal age with the irregular menstrual cycle. The established changes in remote appendicitis, other than acute inflammation, make it possible to consider reasonable appendectomy as a way of treating CRAS in children.