Case: Two boys, 8-months-old and 10-years-old, presented with hip pain. Orthopedics was consulted for possible infections, but intra-abdominal causes were not considered until after magnetic resonance imaging studies identified an intra-abdominal foreign body in each boy. Both patients underwent successful removal of the foreign bodies with complete symptom resolution. Conclusion: Both cases represent missed opportunities for early diagnosis of an intra-abdominal foreign body. In the first case, a lateral radiograph was not acquired. In the second case, the child's rectal pain after falling was not investigated with physical examination. Abdominal foreign bodies need to be considered when evaluating a child with hip pain/limping.
Lowe et al. (Thu,) studied this question.