title: Referred shoulder pain preceding abdominal pain in a teenage girl with gastric perforation.
abstract: Referred shoulder pain is an important yet potentially distracting sign of serious intra-abdominal illness. A case is presented wherein shoulder pain preceded by several hours the onset of abdominal pain in a teenage girl with gastric perforation. The range of causes of gastric perforation and the pathophysiology of referred shoulder pain are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA. epappano@aol.com
authors.forename: Dante Allen
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pappano
authors.forename: Ellen Sofia
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Bass
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053591:Referred Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D013275:Stomach Rupture / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D013997:Time Factors