Background: Acute abdominal pain is a common complaint of patients presenting at the Emergency Department. Approximately, 10% of presentations at the Emergency Department are because of acute abdominal pain which can be caused by a variety of diseases ranging from mild and self-limiting to life-threatening diseases.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to collect data for constructing an optimal diagnostic algorithm for the wide spectrum of patients with acute abdominal pain at the Emergency Department (ED).
Patients and methods: The study was carried out at the Department of Radiology, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo. The study was carried during the period between April 2019 and April 2020 a total of 30 patients were selected from those were referred to Radiology Department of Al-Azhar University Hospitals. All patients were subjected to conventional radiography, US and CT scan.
Results: Out of 30 patients, there were 15 (50%) male patients, 15 (50%) female patients. The spectrum of diseases included in the study were bowel obstruction (23.3%), obstetric related causes (20.0%), urinary cause (20.0%), acute appendicitis (13.3%), abdominal malignancy (3.3%), acute cholecystitis (3.3%), Chron's disease (3.3%), hepatic abscess (3.3%), pancreatitis (3.3%), perforated viscus (3.3%) and splenic abscess (3.3%).
Conclusion: Radiological assessment has a main role in diagnosis and treatment of acute abdomen. CT proved to be a better imaging modality with high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis than conventional imaging especially in acute appendicitis, Chron's disease, hepatic abscess, pancreatitis and splenic abscess. X-ray was the standard in diagnosis of intestinal obstruction or viscus perforation.