Pain in the abdomen is the single most important symptom of an acute abdominal pathologic process. It is the symptom that brings the patient to his physician and the symptom that deserves the utmost care in evaluation. It has been said that a skilled clinician can identify the source of abdominal pain from the history alone 80 to 90% of the time. To achieve that goal requires a thorough understanding of the pathogenesis of the many abdominal diseases that produce pain, and the pathways over which it is transmitted.
Copyright © 1990, Butterworth Publishers, a division of Reed Publishing.