Harish Krishnappa, Radha Harish
BACKGROUND Acute abdominal pain is a common complaint of patients presenting at the Emergency Department. Plain X-Ray as well as ultrasonography are the two most commonly used modalities in diagnosing the causes of acute abdomen. Objectives- To correlate radiological and ultrasonographic findings associated with acute abdomen. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was carried out for a period of two years including 50 patients in total. Plain x-ray and ultrasonographic findings of acute abdomen were noted and compared. RESULTS Thirty-two patients were males (64%) and 18 patients were female (36%). Age of the patients varied from 12 years to 80 years, most of the cases were in the age group of 20-60 years. Most common causes for acute abdomen were acute ureteric/renal and vesicle calculi (34%) followed by intestinal obstruction (28%) and gastrointestinal perforations (14%). CONCLUSION Plain x-ray was helpful in 30 patients (60%). Ultrasonography was helpful in 43 patients (86%). When pain x-ray was combined with ultrasonography, accuracy rate increased to 90-95%.
