Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the fi nal diagnosis of acute abdomen and verify the predictive physical examination fi ndings in the differential diagnosis of short-term (< 3 days) acute abdominal pain in patients seen in the pediatric emergency department.

Material and Methods: A total of 250 patients aged between 2 and 18 years seen in the pediatric emergency department with acute abdominal pain from January 2012 to December 2013 were included in the study. The cases were divided into two groups according to medical or surgical causes of acute abdominal pain. The demographic data, symptoms, physical examination fi ndings, laboratory values, consultation results and fi nal diagnoses of the two groups were evaluated.

Results: Acute abdomen was due to medical in 80% and surgical causes in 20% of the patients. There was no statistical difference between these groups regarding additional fi ndings (p=0.100). The median age, leukocyte count, and number of cases with leukocytosis were higher in the surgical abdomen group (p< 0.05).

Conclusion: A signifi cant number of patients observed in the pediatric emergency department with acute abdominal pain have surgical abdomen. We believe that careful evaluation to detect surgical abdomen is essential for adolescent patients and also for patients that have high leukocyte counts

Keywords: Acute, Acute infl ammation of the Appendix, Child, Abdomen