Diagnóstico del síndrome escrotal agudo en pacientes de menores de 18 años en el hospital de niños Roberto Gilbert Elizalde desde el año 2018 al 2020.

Abstract

Introduction: Acute scrotal syndrome in childhood or adolescence is a medical emergency. It is defined as acute onset scrotal pain, swelling and redness. Because the testicular parenchyma cannot tolerate ischemia for more than a brief period, testicular torsion should be quickly ruled out as a cause. Objective: To describe the diagnosis of patients under 18 years of age treated at the Roberto Gilbert Elizalde Children's Hospital for acute scrotal syndrome in the period 2018-2020. Methodology: descriptive study. Results: The sample obtained from the hospital consisted of 181 pediatric patients with a diagnosis of acute scrotal syndrome between the years 2018 and 2020. The age presented an average of 9.8 years with a standard deviation of 4.5 years, a minimum of 3 months and maximum of 18 years. 164 patients (90.6%) came from an urban area, and 17 (9.4%) came from a rural area. 38.1% of the patients were seen in 2018, 44.8% in 2019 and 17.1% in 2020. The most frequent etiological diagnosis was testicular torsion found in 31.5% of the patients, followed by inflammatory disorders of the scrotum in 23.8% of them, orchitis and epididymitis in 19.9% and disorders of the testis and epididymis in 16%. The average number of hours between the onset of symptoms and the diagnosis of the condition can be 19 hours with a standard deviation of 57 hours, due to a patient whose acute scrotal syndrome presented 30 days before attending the hospital. 27.1% of the patients presented bilateral testicular involvement, 29.3% right laterality and 43.6% of the patients presented left laterality. Conclusions: The most frequent etiological diagnosis found was testicular torsion followed by inflammatory disorders of the scrotum and epididymo-orchitis. The diagnosis was made on average around the first 20 hours of symptoms and the left testicle the most affected among the patients. The most common symptoms were pain, edema and erythema, with fever and vomiting infrequent.