Abdominal Pain

Overview

Abdominal pain is a commonly seen symptom all around. However, abdominal pain can indicate something serious is going on. In general, there are four types of abdominal pain. Visceral, parietal, referred and psychogenic. Acute abdomen is an emergency and needed surgical care as fast as possible. Some of the causes of acute abdominal pain can be due to inflammation such as; appendicitis, pancreatitis, due to perforation/rupture such as; peptic ulcer, ovarian cyst, aortic aneurysm, and due to obstruction such as; intestinal obstruction, biliary or ureteric colic. The patient must always be assessed for any rebound tenderness or guarding because that indicates peritonitis and that is a surgical emergency where the patient needs to be resuscitated with oxygen, IV fluids and antibiotics. It is also crucial to consider extra-intestinal causes of chronic or recurrent abdominal pain such as malignancy, vertebral fracture, diabetes mellitus, and hypercalcemia.