Acute Abdominal Emergencies Requiring Immediate Surgical Intervention

GI conditions mandating emergency surgery:

• Bowel obstruction – pain, vomiting, distension, no stool/gas.
• Perforated viscus – sudden severe pain, rigidity, sepsis.
• Acute diverticulitis – LLQ pain, fever, leukocytosis.
• Appendicitis – migratory RLQ pain, fever, anorexia.
• Mesenteric ischemia – pain out of proportion to exam, lactic acidosis.
• Toxic megacolon – colonic dilation, toxicity (IBD context).
• Massive GI bleed – hematemesis, melena, hemodynamic instability.

Rapid diagnosis (CT, labs) and operative decompression/resection are life-saving.