Acute severe necrotizing pancreatitis: A manifestation of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children?

Abstract

Background: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is commonly being diagnosed among children, 2–8 weeks following a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 infection. Several cases of pancreatitis have been reported with SARS-CoV-2 infection in adults but only one in a 10-year-old girl with MIS-C. Clinical Description: During the coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic, a 1-year-old girl presented with high-grade fever for 3 days and vomiting and abdominal pain for a day. Her parents had contracted SARS COVID-2 infection 5 weeks earlier. At admission, she was febrile, drowsy, had tachycardia, tachypnea, and hypotension. Salient examination findings included bilateral nonpurulent conjunctivitis, diminished air entry and crepitation's in the left basal zone, distended abdomen with guarding and tenderness in the left hypochondrium and epigastrium. The diagnostic criteria of MIS-C were fulfilled, but not for classical or incomplete Kawasaki disease. Biochemical markers and radiological findings confirmed acute severe necrotizing pancreatitis. No other etiological cause of pancreatitis could be identified. Management: Intravenous immunoglobulins were started as per protocol. Steroids were withheld in view of the pancreatitis. The child showed dramatic resolution in fever and rapid improvement in clinical and biochemical parameters. Conclusion: Pancreatitis may be a presentation of MIS-C, either due to a direct cytopathic effect or secondary to a hyper-inflammatory response. A high index of suspicion should be kept in children with fever and severe pain abdomen with recent history of COVID-19 infection in the patient or close contacts.

Keywords

• abdominal pain
• covid-19
• inflammatory syndrome
• pancreas