Jr. Debanto et al., What could be causing chronic abdominal pain? Anything from common peptic ulcers to uncommon pancreatic trauma, POSTGR MED, 106(3), 1999, pp. 141-146
Establishing a reasonable diagnosis and treatment plan in patients with chr
onic abdominal pain san be difficult and frustrating. Most cases involve a
common and readily identified condition (eg, gallbladder disease, GERD, irr
itable bowel syndrome). Other cases, however, resist ready diagnosis becaus
e they offer no intra-abdominal explanation. In this article, the authors s
ummarize several diverse possibilities as the source of the pain, and they
describe how to approach evaluation to avoid unnecessary testing.