Pediatric abdominal migraine as a recurrent emergency department presentation: a case report
Abstract
Pediatric functional abdominal disorders are some of the most commonly encountered disorders in childhood, and a recurrent presentation in the emergency department. Distinguishing functional disorders from organic causes is crucial to safe patient care and to identify optimal treatment strategies.
We present a case of a 9-year-old boy with recurrent presentations of diffuse abdominal pain associated with nausea, recurrent vomiting and headache. He had no red flag symptoms, and his mother had a history of migraine headaches. Emergency department investigations demonstrated normal bloodwork, with ultrasound demonstrating only trace small volume deep pelvic ascites of unknown etiology. He was subsequently diagnosed with pediatric abdominal migraine, and counselled on the cornerstones of nonpharmacologic management.
This case highlights the importance of assessing for red flags of abdominal pain and using strict diagnostic criteria when considering functional abdominal disorders in childhood.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Calcium Ions in the Physiology and Pathology of the Central Nervous System
- AI-powered in silico twins: redefining precision medicine through simulation, personalization, and predictive healthcare
- In silico functional, structural and pathogenicity analysis of missense single nucleotide polymorphisms in human MCM6 gene
- In Silico drug repurposing pipeline using deep learning and structure based approaches in epilepsy
- Targeting serotonin receptors with phytochemicals – an in-silico study
- In silico exploration of anti-prostate cancer compounds from differential expressed genes
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.