Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Pelvic inflammatory disease is infectious in etiology and is closely linked to sexually transmitted disease. Pelvic inflammatory disease is common in the United States with an estimated incidence of 2.5 million. The condition can be diagnosed clinically, with lower abdominal pain, cervical motion tenderness, an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate and fever. Once diagnosed, the patient should be put on empirical antibiotic therapy that should cover gonorrhea, chlamydia, gram-negative organisms and anaerobes. Patients with complications, such as abscess formation or sepsis, might benefit from laparoscopic surgery.