A review of 25 years experience in 461 cases of pediatric abdominal mass

Regarding the significance of abdominal masses in children, we aimed to identify the pathology of masses according to the age and sex groups. We retrospectively reviewed pathological reports of 461 patients with abdominal mass that underwent resection or biopsy during the study period (25 years). One hundred and eighty six cases (40%) were non-neoplastic, many of which had renal originand 35 cases (7%) were hydatid cysts. Concerning the 271 neoplastic masses (58%), 96 cases (20%) were diagnosed as renal tumors (frequently Wilm’s tumor), 63 (13%) as neuroblastoma and 56 (12%) as abdominal lymphomas. Abdominal masses in children coming to a referral pediatric surgery center are more likely to be neoplastic. We also found that malignancies are rare in neonatal period in comparison to other age groups.