EVALUATION OF THE COMMON FINDINGS OF EMERGENCY ABDOMINAL X- RAYS AT UNIVERSITY OF BENIN TEACHING HOSPITAL

Abdominal pain is one of the most frequent presenting complaints in emergency departments (EDs), with a wide differential diagnosis ranging from benign to life-threatening conditions. These conditions include gastrointestinal pathologies such as appendicitis, peptic ulcers, and bowel obstructions, as well as non-gastrointestinal disorders like myocardial infarction or aortic aneurysm rupture. The aim of this study was to evaluate evaluate the common findings of emergency abdominal x-rays at university of Benin teaching hospital. A retrospective design was adopted and a convenience sampling was used to select 200 sample size. The results revealed that abdominal pain (30.0%), and bowel obstruction (26.0%), were the most common clinical signs. Normal study (40.0%) was the most common radiography appearance, and the most common abnormal results were dilated bowel loops and pneumoperitoneum. Demographically, young adults (20-39 years old) constituted the largest percentage (52.0) with majority of them being females (58.0) as compared to the males. The chi-square showed that there was no statistically significant relationship between age or gender and radiography findings. The conclusion of the findings was that the most common requests of an emergency abdominal X-ray at UBTH are related to patients presenting with abdominal pain with suspected bowel obstruction. Despite a large percentage of tests with normal outcomes, the modality is still applicable in the diagnosis of bowel obstruction, pneumoperitoneum, and foreign bodies.