Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Acad Emerg Med
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Workup for patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) following an anterior abdominal stab wound (AASW) has been debated since the 1960s. Experts agree that patients with peritonitis, evisceration, or hemodynamic instability should undergo immediate laparotomy (LAP); however, workup of stable, asymptomatic or nonperitoneal patients is not clearly defined. ⋯ In stable AASW patients, a negative CT scan alone without an observation period is inadequate to exclude significant intraabdominal injuries.