What is acute abdomen?

● Acute abdominal pain is a sudden, spontaneous, non-traumatic, severe abdominal pain, with less than 24 hours of onset before the presentation of the patient to the ER. It’s the most frequent cause of presentation of patients to the ER. ● The delay in the diagnosis and management (treatment): ↑ increases the morbidity and mortality. ● Atypical presentation of abdominal pain in: - Elderly: either they don’t feel properly the pain, or it could be a shifting of the pain, or redundant intestines (they aren’t in their normal position), with a possible history of surgery. - Immunocompromised: they don’t feel properly the pain - Pregnant women - Obese patients - Patients with previous surgery: change in the anatomy of the abdomen - Diabetic patients