Right-sided low inguinal pain in young women

Young women with right iliac fossa pain are commonly referred to general surgeons as possible acute appendicitis. The differential diagnosis that includes pelvic visceral disease may be very difficult to determine clinically, especially when the history and physical signs are equivocal. We believe that diagnostic accuracy may be improved by eliciting precisely the site of abdominal pain. Right-sided low inguinal pain may be referred from the female pelvic viscera in the same way as testicular pain may be referred to the groin, as these viscera derive their autonomic nerve supply from the T10-L2, mainly T12-L1, spinal segments in both sexes. There are no previous reports of the value of the symptom of right-sided low inguinal pain in differentiating pelvic visceral disease from acute appendicitis in young women. This paper reports a prospective study of the discriminant value of this symptom in such patients.