ILIAC FOSSA (LEFT), PAIN IN

Abstract

This chapter highlights the causes and symptoms related to pain in iliac fossa. Many of the causes of pain complained of mainly or entirely in the left iliac fossa are the same as those that cause similar pain in the right iliac fossa. Abdominal distension is pronounced although the abdominal wall remains supple unless general peritonitis supervenes. There is visible peristalsis of the oblique or transverse type in the case of strangulated retroperitoneal hernia, a rare condition in which a coil of small intestine becomes herniated through the normally small retrosigmoid pouch of peritoneum. Acute pyelonephritis is a less common cause of pain in the left iliac fossa than of corresponding pain on the right side. Appendicitis is almost the last thing that occurs to one as the cause of acute pain referred entirely to the left iliac fossa, just as it is the first when the pain is on the right side.