№ 13Differential Diagnostic Topics17 min read
Differential diagnosis of abdominal pain
1. Big picture
Abdominal pain is a symptom, not a diagnosis. The examiner wants you to decide quickly:
- Is this an acute abdomen requiring urgent surgery/intervention?
- Is the patient unstable or septic?
- Which quadrant/localization gives the best differential?
- Is the pain visceral, parietal/peritoneal, referred, vascular, metabolic, or extra-abdominal?
The dangerous diagnoses to exclude first are:
- Peritonitis / perforated viscus
- Bowel obstruction
- Mesenteric ischemia
- Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Acute pancreatitis
- Acute cholangitis / cholecystitis
- Appendicitis
- Ectopic pregnancy
- Ovarian/testicular torsion
- Myocardial infarction presenting as epigastric pain
Unlock the rest of this topic
Subscribe to Internal Medicine for $10/month and unlock all 229 topics — full exam-structured notes, the State Exam questions integrated into every topic, and the downloadable Anki deck. Cancel anytime.
- ✓All 229 Internal Medicine topics, exam-structured
- ✓State Exam questions in every topic
- ✓Downloadable Anki deck (.apkg)
- ✓Cancel anytime
Already subscribed? Sign in