Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Hi

I am Dr. Rushda Riaz, Gynaecologist, Motherhood Maternity Center, Delhi. Today I will talk about the pelvic inflammatory disease. It is a very general condition in the female. It is a common infection in the pelvic cavity of the female that includes uterus with the cervix, fallopian tubes, ovaries and not only the female genital system but also the organs which are present in the pelvic cage for the patient can be affected. And if it is left untreated for a longer period of time, it can cause many complications which include chronic pelvic pain, fever and very rarely it can lead to infertility.

Now, what are the various causes which are responsible for pelvic inflammatory disease? There are many causes that include having sex at less than 20 years of age or having multiple sexual partners or either of the partner having the history of STDs. The STDs can be caused by the organism like chlamydia or gonorrhoea and if it is left untreated, it can cause many other complications. Also, if there is medical termination of the pregnancy whether it is done using the medicine, or surgical if anything left inside for a longer period of time then also it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease. Now what the signs and symptoms? The patient can have a fever, abdominal pain, low back pain, nausea and vomiting, and in a few cases we have to admit the patient.

How do we diagnose? We do a various physical examination of the patient and through this, we can see the type of the discharge. The type and smell of the discharge will let us know what infection is present in the genital system. Through vaginal examination, we try to see whether there is tenderness or not. In case, we see that the condition is other than PID, we do an ultrasound to rule out the problem. Now treatment depends upon the patient's condition. If the patient is stable we do out treatment. If the patient's condition is bad we have to admit the patient and give injectable antibiotics.

Thank You.