Think Broadly to Diagnose the Cause of Chronic Abdominal Pain

Authors

Anne Walsh, Chapman UniversityFollow

Document Type

Letter to the Editor

Publication Date

12-3-2014

Abstract

"With any type of chronic abdominal pain, think broadly.

In the reader’s question, 'Pain in a person with hepatitis C and a fatty pancreas' (Advisor Forum item 192-3, October 2014; available here, accessed on November 15, 2014), the expert’s answer was given as possibly caused by pancreatitis or cirrhosis.

However, being that the patient’s liver function tests and lipase levels were normal, this is highly unlikely. Neither fatty liver, fatty pancreas, nor cirrhosis in and of themselves cause abdominal pain regardless of etiology, and pancreatitis is by definition inflammatory — evidenced by elevated lipase."

Comments

This article was originally published in Clinical Advisor in December 2014.

Recommended Citation

Walsh, A. Think broadly to diagnose the cause of chronic abdominal pain. Clin Advisor. Dec 2014. https://www.clinicaladvisor.com/home/clinical-pearls/think-broadly-to-diagnose-the-cause-of-chronic-abdominal-pain/

Copyright

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