Nonspecific abdominal pain: Do I have to allocate a specific diagnosis for every patient?
Acute abdominal pain is one of the most common chief complaints in the acute setting all over the world. The definitive diagnoses of these patients vary depending on age, gender, geographical and sociodemographic characteristics etc. Apart from these, aging of the population, obesity, advanced diagnostic imaging modalities and changes in nutritional habits also have an impact on the rates of specific diagnoses. On the other hand, nonspecific abdominal pain constitutes almost half of all visits due to acute abdominal pain in the acute care setting. This phenomenon is the main differential diagnostic problem in the management of these patients because missing a life-threatening condition can cause enormous medicolegal problems for the caregivers. Certain diagnostic scoring systems have also been developed to facilitate recognition and management of these conditions. The entity and underline the challenges it can bring to the scene can be reviewed in an editorial (Author: Dr. Ozgur Karcioglu) published in Signa Vitae.