Pelvic malignancy presenting as a pelvic inflammatory process in pre and postmenopausal women.

Among two hundred and twenty-one patients admitted with the diagnosis of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), 6 had an underlying malignancy. The rate of underlying malignancy was 1.4% in premenopausal patients and 42.8% in postmenopausal patients. This difference was statistically significant, p less than 0.001. In postmenopausal patients presenting with a pelvic inflammatory process pelvic malignancy should be highly suspected and thorough examination made.