title: Abdominal wall tenderness: a useful sign in chronic abdominal pain.
abstract: The outcome in 72 patients with obscure abdominal pain and a positive Carnett's (abdominal wall tenderness) test, seen in one firm's surgical outpatient clinic between 1975 and 1983, was sought by a combination of hospital note retrieval and general practitioner questionnaire. Full follow-up data to date or death were available for 58 (81 per cent) patients and partial follow-up for 14 patients. The study showed that the patients generated a good deal of investigation and a number of surgical procedures but that seldom were their symptoms attributable to serious pathology. Familiarity with the test, taken in the context of a proper history and examination, has been found helpful in assessing such patients and saves the inconvenience, expense and occasional hazard of investigation, and even surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Dawes
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Carter
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles; D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010173:Palpation; D010808:Physical Examination; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests