ACUTE ABDOMINAL PAIN
Surgical abdomen — The first diagnoses that must be considered in patients with acute abdominal pain are those that may require urgent surgical intervention. The 'surgical abdomen' can be usefully defined as a condition with a rapidly worsening prognosis in the absence of surgical intervention [20]. Two syndromes that constitute urgent surgical referrals are obstruction and peritonitis. The latter encompasses most severe abdominal pathology since intraperitoneal hemorrhage or viscus perforation typically present with common features of peritonitis.