Adhesions and pelvic pain: a retrospective study.

Retrospective review of 100 consecutive laparoscopies for chronic pelvic pain and 88 for infertility was undertaken. Twenty-six of the 100 (26%) chronic pelvic pain patients and 34 of the 88 (39%) infertility patients exhibited pelvic adhesions as the only abnormal finding. Patients in each group with findings of pelvic adhesions were compared with respect to symptomatology, density of adhesions, and locations of adhesions. Only four of the 34 infertility patients in whom pelvic adhesions were found complained of pain. Comparison of the chronic pelvic pain patients and the asymptomatic infertility patients did not reveal a significant difference in the density or the location of adhesions. These findings question the role of pelvic adhesions as a cause of chronic pelvic pain.