title: Imaging of acute right lower quadrant abdominal pain: differential diagnoses beyond appendicitis.
abstract: Evaluation of acute right lower quadrant pain remains a common and challenging clinical scenario for emergency medicine physicians due to frequent nonspecific signs, symptoms, and physical examination findings. Therefore, imaging has evolved to play a pivotal role in the emergency setting. While appendicitis is a common cause for acute pain, there are numerous other important differential considerations with which the radiologist must be aware. The purpose of this review is to list an anatomy-based, encompassing differential diagnosis in addition to acute appendicitis for right lower quadrant pain; demonstrate the key imaging findings of numerous differential considerations; and describe helpful imaging and clinical features useful in narrowing the differential diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. hellermt@upmc.edu
authors.forename: Matthew T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hattoum
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans
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