title: [Imaging tests in acute abdominal pain].
abstract: Acute abdominal pain constitutes a diagnostic challenge for the physician. The list of diseases that can cause abdominal pain is very extensive. Some of these conditions may be serious and life-threatening. The medical history is fundamental for the judicious choice of the most suitable diagnostic tests. Plain abdominal x-ray has little diagnostic efficiency although it comprises the initial diagnostic test when perforation of a hollow viscus, intestinal obstruction or ingestion of a foreign body is suspected. Abdominal ultrasound is the test of choice in suspected biliary tract pathology, complicated renal colic and gynaecological disease. Abdominal computed axial tomography (CT) may be the most sensitive and specific imaging test for diagnosing most causes of abdominal pain but should be reserved for selected cases.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: del Arco Galán
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Parra Gordo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: García-Casasola Sánchez
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D000208:Acute Disease; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D006801:Humans