Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Pelvic laparoscopy

Female reproductive anatomy

Endometritis

Uterus

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)

Alternative Names:

PID; Oophoritis; Salpingitis; Salpingo-oophoritis; Salpingo-peritonitis

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of PID include:

vaginal discharge with abnormal color, consistency or odor
abdominal pain either localized or generalized
fever (not always present)
- may range from transient to constant
- low grade to high

Other nonspecific symptoms that may be seen with PID include:

chills
irregular menstrual bleeding or spotting
increased menstrual cramping
menstruation, absent
increased pain during ovulation
sexual intercourse, painful
bleeding after intercourse
low-back pain
fatigue
lack of appetite
nausea, with or without vomiting
frequent urination
pain with urination
point tenderness

Note: There may be no symptoms. People who experience ectopic pregnancies (pregnancies where the embryo implants in the fallopian tubes instead of the uterus) or infertility are often found to have so-called "silent" PID, which is usually caused by chlamydia infection.

Signs and tests:

A general examination may reveal fever and abdominal tenderness. Pelvic examination may reveal cervical discharge, cervical motion tenderness (pain with movement of the cervix during a pelvic exam), a friable cervix (bleeds easily), uterine tenderness, or adnexal (ovarian) tenderness.

Tests include:

a WBC
an ESR (sed rate)
a wet prep or wet mount microscopic examination
a serum HCG (pregnancy test)
an endocervical culture for gonorrhea, chlamydia, or other organisms
a laparoscopy (may be needed)
pelvic ultrasound or CT scan (may be needed)

Review Date: 7/8/2004
Reviewed By: Bryan R. Hecht, M.D., Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, OH. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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