A spectrum of findings on computed tomography in paediatric abdominal and pelvic tumours in a Ghanaian teaching hospital.

OBJECTIVES

To review the Computed Tomography( CT )features of pediatric oncological patients with abdominal and pelvic tumours and correlate these findings with their histopathological diagnosis.

DESIGN

This was a retrospective cross-sectional facility-based study.

SETTING

This study was conducted in the Pediatric Oncology Unit and Radiology Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

PARTICIPANTS

Fifty-six pediatric oncology patients with contrast-enhanced abdominal and pelvic CT scans.

DATA COLLECTION: The abdominal and pelvic CT scans findings, patient biodata, and histopathology reports of oncology patients over four years were reviewed.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Simple descriptive statistics using frequency distribution, percentages, means, and standard deviation were used to describe the various variables and presented tables.

RESULTS

The four commonest tumours were nephroblastoma, neuroblastoma, lymphoma, and hepatoblastoma. The mean age at diagnosis was 4.8 years, with a slightly higher male predominance. The majority of the tumours were extremely large at presentation. Overall, the CT - histopathology concordance was 79.2%.

CONCLUSION

Abdominal and pelvic CT scans play an important role in the diagnostic workup of pediatric malignancies by ensuring early and accurate diagnosis of these tumours.

FUNDING: None declared.