Abdominal Pain Health Screening

Typical investigations for the tummy pain include the followings:

• Blood tests checking for inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, coeliac disease, pancreatitis, liver and kidney disease
• Stool tests to check for inflammatory bowel disease and helicobacter pylori gastritis
• Abdominal ultrasound to check the health of liver, spleen, gallbladder, kidney, pancreas, sexual organs (ovaries and uterus in girl), abdominal mass and severe faecal loading
• Skin prick testing for milk, egg, wheat and soya to check for IgE mediated food allergies. You should remember that negative skin prick test means your child do not have IgE mediated food allergy. It does not mean that your child does not have delayed onset food allergy or intolerance. The useful way to find out is dietary exclusion for a defined period followed by dietary challenge.
• Abdominal x-ray is sometimes indicated checking for faecal loading. It should be avoided as it contains radiation.
• Hydrogen breath tests to check for sugar intolerances (lactose, fructose, sucrose) and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. You child will be asked to drink sugar solution and delivers breath into a straw which is connected the breath test machine. The breath test can take up to 2 hours.

As this is a health screening test only, we would write a brief investigation report. Please bear in mind that this is not a proper clinic consultation. We bear no clinical responsibilities. If the tests have returned abnormal, the parents or the guardians have the responsibility to seek help from healthcare professional. You are welcome to make an appointment to see me for a proper clinic consultation. It is also important that normal investigations do not exclude severe life threatening conditions. Therefore seeking medical help is vitally important to ensure exhaustive investigations have been carried out. This may involve several medical specialities.