title: [Abdominal pain without any identifiable cause: a guide for the general practitioner].
abstract: Abdominal pain without any identifiable cause represents a frequent phenomenon in clinical practice and a challenge for the physician. Prior to establishing the diagnosis of non-specific abdominal pain it is crucial to exclude a variety of potential causes. The differential diagnosis is long and includes functional problems but also extra-intestinal pathologies including thoracic, neurogenic, and metabolic causes as well as intoxications. Moreover, an intra-abdominal pathology, particularly a malignancy, must be ruled out systematically prior to labeling a patient as having "non specific" abdominal pain.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinik für Viszerale Chirurgie und Medizin, Universitätsspital Bern.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fahrner
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Güller
mesh_terms: D000008:Abdominal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D000465:Algorithms; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D058006:General Practice; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D013896:Thoracic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis