No abstract

To determine the long-term outcome of congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM), the records of all patients with CCAM treated in three Hungarian paediatric surgical centers between 1977 and 1996 were reviewed. Patients were followed for up to 20 years following diagnosis and treatment. In 20 patients CCAM was diagnosed postnatally and in 3 prenatally. Biodata including the operative procedures are presented. Follow-up findings between 18 months and 20 years after diagnosis showed better height and weight growth in patients operated upon in later childhood compared with those operated upon in infancy. The older the patient at the time of diagnosis, the better was the long-term outcome.

A 4-year-old boy presented with sudden onset of fever, pyuria, and bacteriuria. Ultrasound revealed left hydronephrosis and hydroureter. A plain abdominal radiography and excretory urogram showed a giant ureteral stone measuring 9 cm causing ureteral obstruction. Underlying anatomic or metabolic abnormalities were not detected. Extraction of the stone resulted in complete disappearance of the hydronephrosis and hydroureter.

Abdominal and pelvic calcifications are usually incidental findings and require further measures to determine their origin. Most laboratory investigations are of little help. Plain anteroposterior and lateral x-rays are essential. The time of appearance and localisation of a calcification is of diagnostic importance. Amorphous, granular and irregular calcification can be an early sign of malignancy. Mobility of a calcification also helps to clarify its origin.Over the past 15 years abdominal and pelvic calcifications, excluding urological radiodensities, have been found in 63 patients up to fourteen years of age at our institute. A migrating deposit in the omentum, a spontaneously amputated calcified ovary mimicking a vesical calculus and a congenital retroperitoneal xanthofibroma caused the greatest difficulty in establishing apreoperative diagnosis.