Invited Commentary

Commentary on "Prospective Evaluation of the Clinical Features of Choledocholithiasis: Focus on Abdominal Pain"

Authors: Patrick Brady, MD

Abstract

Abdominal pain is a commonly encountered problem both in the ambulatory care setting and in emergency medical care. In a telephone survey of 21,128 adults, 4.8% experienced upper abdominal pain at least once during the past 3 months.1 Pain also is the number one complaint observed in emergency medical care. In a study of 1665 emergency department visits, 52.2% of patients had pain as a chief complaint, and abdominal pain was the most common type of pain affecting 24.5% of patients.2

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