title: Laparoscopy in the management of women with chronic pelvic pain.
abstract: A review of 232 women who had diagnostic laparoscopy for chronic pelvic pain was undertaken. Diagnostic error in the preoperative pelvic examination in the series varied from 21% to 61%; of 135 patients who had normal pelvic examination findings preoperatively, 82 (61%) were found to have pelvic pathology on diagnostic laparoscopy, whereas 21 of 97 women (21.6%) who had abnormal pelvic examination, had normal findings on laparoscopy. The overall incidence of pelvic pathology in the series was found to be 69%. Our results suggest that there is poor correlation between findings of pelvic examination and the existence of pelvic disease. Laparoscopy has a definite place in the evaluation of patients with chronic pelvic pain and certainly justifies its increasing use in their management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: al-Suleiman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*