Some of the etiologies of pain in the pregnant patient includes trauma, pyelonephritis/ obstruction, appendicitis, cholecystitis, pancreatitis, and bowel obstruction.

While CT is probably the best modality for diagnosing a number of these etiologies, CT uses ionizing radiation which has increase risk of malignancy and leukemia for both the mother and especially the unborn fetus. As such, other modalities such as Ultrasound and MRI have been advocated as safer methods of evaluation of the pregnant patient with abdominal pain. Ultrasound is often utilized as the first modality for evaluating a number of these entities such as acute cholecystitis, renal obstruction, and to a lesser extent trauma and appendicitis. MRI has also been show to very useful in diagnosing appendicitis as well as bowel obstruction in the pregnant patients. In instances where neither ultrasound nor MRI have been shown to be useful then CT, focused to area of interest, may be helpful in obtaining a precise diagnosis.

This presentation will review different entities that may cause pain in the pregnant patient as well as the modality that is most useful in obtaining a correct diagnosis.