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Abdominal Pain in PregnancyAbdominal pain in pregnancy is a frequent cause of worry for expectant mothers with this condition and their attending physician. Hormonal and other physiological changes occurring in a woman’s body during pregnancy makes her even more prone to conditions that leads to pain in the abdomen than in the general population. Abdominal pain during pregnancy can be caused by conditions specific and related to pregnancy, or by any other condition as would be found in the non-pregnant woman. Some of these causes may require immediate surgery, and a loss of that window of opportunity to operate at an early stage may lead to complications potentially detrimental to the wellbeing of the mother and the growing foetus. True, most cases of abdominal pain during pregnancy are caused by relatively minor conditions that may or may not require further treatment than the prescription of simple pain killer like paracetamol. It is conditions like ectopic pregnancy, acute appendicitis, urinary tract infection, gall bladder disease (cholecystitis or billiary colic), threatened abortion (miscarriage), placenta abruption, perforation of a duodenal ulcer, acute pancreatitis, to name but a few, that requires immediate diagnostic workup and treatment. A systematic and thorough evaluation of the possible causes of abdominal pain during pregnancy should be sought. There should be no hesitation in the use of ancillary investigations, laparoscopy and even MRI to decipher the possible cause of unexplainable abdominal pain in pregnancy lasting for more than eight hours. Acute appendicitis for example is the most common non-pregnancy related cause of abdominal pain during pregnancy, accounting for up to 25% of surgical operations in the pregnant for non-obstetric reason. Despite this high incidence of appendicitis in pregnancy, diagnostic difficulties and hesitancy is not uncommon. A high index of suspicion is there for required to help in clinching the common causes of abdominal pain in the pregnant.
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