Laparoscopy in women with chlamydial infection and pelvic pain: a comparison of patients with and without salpingitis.

A review was made of clinical and laboratory findings in 104 women who, during 1978 to 1981, were subjected to laparoscopy because of symptoms suggestive of acute salpingitis, and who harbored Chlamydia trachomatis but not Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the genital tract. The patients with acute salpingitis (N = 76) did not differ significantly from those with visually normal fallopian tubes (N = 28) in regard to age distribution, parity, contraceptive method used, proportion of women with urethritis symptoms, increased vaginal discharge, vomiting, diarrhea, elevated rectal temperature, elevated white blood cell count, and palpable pelvic masses. The acute salpingitis patients more often had irregular bleeding and an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, whereas the patients without acute salpingitis more often had a short history of pelvic pain. The two groups overlapped considerably with respect to the number of symptoms and clinical signs of pelvic infection. The results emphasize the value of laparoscopy in the diagnosis or exclusion of a tubal infection in association with a chlamydial genital infection and pelvic pain, even if there are comparatively few additional symptoms of ascending infection.