Evaluation of Acute Abdominal Pain.

Acute abdominal pain is considered to be one of the most elusive and common complaints among patients presenting to the emergency department and primary care settings across the U.S. Owing to the clinical complexity of this seemingly non-specific complaint, it often becomes difficult to determine which patients require extensive evaluation of their illness and when specialized consultation should be obtained. The aim of this article is to address generalizable principles which can be utilized by the clinician in the cost-effective and expedient evaluation of acute abdominal pain.