What could be causing chronic abdominal pain?

PREVIEW

Establishing a reasonable diagnosis and treatment plan in patients with chronic abdominal pain can be difficult and frustrating. Most cases involve a common and readily identified condition (eg, gallbladder disease, GERD, irritable bowel syndrome). Other cases, however, resist ready diagnosis because they offer no intra-abdominal explanation. In this article, the authors summarize several diverse possibilities as the source of the pain, and they describe how to approach evaluation to avoid unnecessary testing.