Abdominal pain of unknown etiology

The influence of age, sex, duration of symptoms, and exploratory laparotomy on prognosis of adult patients with abdominal pain of unknown etiology was assessed in a retrospective review. Patients with incomplete diagnostic evaluation were excluded. Of the sixty-four patients studied, forty-six were female. Lack of improvement of symptoms in the follow-up period was 67% in females and 22% in males (p less than 0.05). Younger patients tended to have higher improvement rates. Of the patients whose duration of symptoms was less than fourteen days, 65% were improved and 25% were subsequently diagnosed, as compared with 14 and 9%, respectively, of those whose symptoms had been present for more than ninety days (p less than 0.05). Laparotomy did not influence rate of improvement and established a diagnosis in only one of twenty-three patients explored. It is concluded that few of these patients are likely to benefit from laparotomy, especially adult females whose symptoms have been present for more than three months.