Abstract

Background: The acute abdomen represents a spectrum of clinical presentation dominated by the acute onset of abdominal pain, typically warranting immediate surgical assessment and intervention. These developments apart, such absolute dependence on a systematic, comprehensive clinical evaluation, with a complete anamnesis and rigorous, systematic physical examination, underscores how certain of the basics in establishing a diagnosis will always be classical approaches. Visceral-parietal differentiation remains central to such diagnoses, tracing pathways that make it all vital.

Objective: The research is essential as it strives to determine diagnostic accuracy and the decision-making process in acute abdomen. It revolves around the contribution of epidemiological parameters (age, gender), presented symptoms, findings on physical examination, and investigative modalities (imaging and lab). It also seeks to study the influence of comorbidities on therapeutic approach, operative plan, and postoperative course and outcome, including relative comparison between open surgery and laparoscopy. This research can tremendously enhance the management and understanding of acute abdomen.

Materials and Methods: A robust retrospective, analytical analysis was conducted on a considerable group of 2,230 randomly selected patients with acute abdominal pain in the University Hospital of Trauma, Tirana. The information was collected from institutional medical files without demographic or diagnostic exclusion criteria to provide a comprehensive analysis.

Results: Of the total cohort, 1,028 (47.5%) were men and 1,172 (52.5%) were women, with respective mean ages of 48.3 years and 44.3 years. Acute surgical abdomen was diagnosed in 758 (34%) cases requiring surgical treatment. Appendicitis was the leading indication for emergency surgery. Remarkably, laparoscopic methods had uniformly excellent results in well-selected patients, holding out the promise of an exciting surgical future.

Conclusion: Clinical evaluation, aided by imaging techniques such as ultrasonography and CT, remains the cornerstone in the diagnosis of acute abdomen. The utmost importance of early diagnosis and individualized surgical management cannot be overestimated since they are crucial in reducing morbidity and mortality. Appendectomy, open or laparoscopic, remains the most common surgical intervention in emergency abdominal surgery, underlining the need for immediate and individualized management.

Keywords: Acute abdomen, abdominal pain, emergency surgery, diagnosis, appendectomy, imaging modalities