Acute Abdomen: Diagnostic Imaging in the Clinical Context - Essay Example

Any acute illness may originate from any of these areas. One such acute illness of the abdominal cavity is acute abdomen, abdominal pain that arises acutely due to various complications (Krestin and Choyke 45).

When a patient has an acute abdomen, it is important for the doctor to localize the pain so as to come up with the etiology of the pain. Acute abdomen may be a sign of infectious diseases, idiopathic disorders, iatrogenic illnesses, endocrine disorders, functional disorders, genetic disorders, inflammation, cancers, and many more infections. Infections like gastritis, gastroenteritis, typhoid, amoebiasis, dysentery, etc all cause abdominal pain, hence, identifying other symptoms related to the pain will determine the type of infection causing the pain. Diarrhoea is a characteristic of most of these infections; hence, other symptoms apart from diarrhea need to be identified. However, infections are a form of blood-borne transmission, hence, will manifest systemically with symptoms like fever.

Acute appendicitis is another cause of acute abdominal pain. This pain is localized at the

Distal abdomen and radiates to the right iliac fossa. Acute appendicitis is a medical emergency, normally requiring appendectomy to remove the infected appendix. Acute pancreatitis may also cause acute abdominal pain. The pancreas is both an endocrine and exocrine gland; hence, its infection is associated with multiple body derangements (Botsford and Wilson 67).

Trauma and other lesions may also cause abdominal pain. Acute abdominal pain has a varied etiology; hence, it is important for healthcare practitioners to take a complete and accurate medical history. They are also expected to conduct a thorough medical examination which is composed of inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation. However, healthcare practitioners also need to be careful when dealing with patients since they may be a cause of hospital-acquired/ nosocomial infections or even surgical-acquired/iatrogenic infections (Silen and Cope 56).