[Emergency ultrasound in patients with abdominal pain - where should we "look"].

Diagnostic ultrasound is without doubt the imaging technique of choice in patients with acute abdominal pain. Point-of-care ultrasound examinations can help to reduce the number of possible differential diagnoses by exclusion or - as a best case scenario - show us directly the correct diagnosis. Hence patients can benefit from a very early appropriate therapeutic approach. This article illustrates where and how we should "look". After focusing on basic technical settings, typical pathological sonomorphologic changes in patients with some of the most important illnesses are characterized (e. g. acute appendicitis, acute cholecystitis, acute diverticulitis, acute pancreatitis and urinary tract occlusion). Ultrasound beginners are the target group of this survey. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.