Flank pain resident survival guide

Flank pain Resident Survival Guide
Overview
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Do's
Don'ts

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Qasim Khurshid, M.B.B.S.

Overview

Flank pain reffers to the discomfort in the upper abdomen or back and sides. It develops in the area above the pelvis and below the ribs. This is common symptom and usually pain is worse on one side of the body.Most frequently the cause is benign and/or self-limiting, but more serious causes may require urgent intervention.Treatment of the flank pain depends on the cause, urgent surgical intervention may be required if the pain is caused by raptured aortic aneurym and some conditions can be treated with NSAIDS.

Causes

Life Threatening Causes

Life-threatening causes include conditions that may result in death or permanent disability within 24 hours if left untreated.

• Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
• Renal abscess
• Perforated gastric ulcer
• Renal artery dissection
• Traumatic splenic rupture
• Acute pancreatitis
• Adrenal hemorrhage
• Pulmonary embolism
• Cholecystitis

Common Causes

Common causes of flank pian include:

• Abdominal muscle strain
• Acute kidney injury
• Cholecystitis
• Ureteric calculi
• Pyelonephritis
• Renal abscess
• Renal tumor
• Nephrolithiasis
• Post streptococcal glomerulonephritis
• Renal papillary necrosis
• Shingles
• Ureteric blood clot
• Pneumonia
• Acute renal infarction
• APDKD

Diagnosis

Shown below is an algorithm summarizing the diagnosis of flank pain.

Treatment

Shown below is an algorithm summarizing the treatment of [[disease name]] according the the [...] guidelines.

Do's

• The content in this section is in bullet points.

Don'ts

• The content in this section is in bullet points.

References