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Non-obstetric Abdominal Pain in Pregnancy

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Emergency Department Management of Obstetric Complications

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Abstract

Though abdominal pain may be a harbinger of an obstetric complication, pregnant women can also develop abdominal pain unrelated to the pregnancy itself. As many as 1 in 500 pregnant women develop an acute abdomen, and up to 1% of women need an operation during pregnancy for a non-obstetric problem. Diagnosing the cause of abdominal pain may be challenging, however, due to anatomic and physiologic changes that occur during pregnancy. The gravid uterus may displace abdominal organs, peritonitis may not develop due to abdominal musculature stretching, and leukocytosis is unreliable due to leukocytosis of pregnancy. Causes of abdominal pain can range from gynecologic to genitourinary to gastrointestinal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Greenville Hospital System, 4 Majestic Oak Court, Greenville, SC, 29609, USA

    Mallory Shasteen M.D.

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, 110 Irving Street NW, Washington, DC, 20010, USA

    Elizabeth Pontius M.D., R.D.M.S.

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Correspondence to Elizabeth Pontius M.D., R.D.M.S. .

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  1. MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

    Joelle Borhart

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Shasteen, M., Pontius, E. (2017). Non-obstetric Abdominal Pain in Pregnancy. In: Borhart, J. (eds) Emergency Department Management of Obstetric Complications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54410-6_12

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