Abstract

Background: Upper abdominal pain is one of the most common complains by patients referred by GP. Abdominal ultrasound (USS) remains the primary imaging technique in majority of cases and considered safe, rapid and noninvasive method of abdominal examination.
Objectives: The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of relevant USS findings in patient with chronic abdominal pain and to determine its relation to the site of pain.
Methods: In all patients the site of pain was localized and abdominal USS was done. After collection and check of data, SPSS was used for data entry and analysis.
Results: A total of 620 patients were enrolled in the study; (10.48%) complained of RHC pain, (8.7%) complained of epigastric pain, (49.84%) complained of non-specific generalized pain, (20.65%) complained of unilateral loin pain and (10.3%) complained of bilateral loin pain. Less than half (44.8%) of cases had relevant findings such as; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cholelithiasis.
Conclusion: Abdominal ultrasound is an important modality in detection of relevant findings and can reduce the number of patients referred to specialist but in some cases can be of little value. Adequate clinical information and good examination are essential to enable the choice of appropriate modality and to reduce the number of unnecessary ultrasound examination.

Keywords: Abdominal ultrasound; Chronic abdominal pain; Site of pain; Ultrasound findings