Differential diagnosis of abdominal pain in geriatric patients: Self-limiting abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture
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Date
2018
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Abstract
Abdominal pain in the geriatric age group is one of the most complex and time-consumingcomplaints among the causes of emergency room visits. The incidence of abdominalaortic aneurysm in elderly is 4-11%. Though presence of the triad consisting of hypotension, back pain, and pulsatile mass facilitates establishment of diagnosis in thelederly, but hypotension does not occur at an early stage in most of them. In addition,this classical triad is seen in only 30-50% of the patients. The atypical group of elderlypatients can be misdiagnosed in up to 50% of the cases. In this case report, we discussedthe treatment approach in a 80-year-old woman with colicky abdominal pain for twoweeks who had received different diagnoses at multiple medical institutions.