Laparoscopic evaluation of infertile patients with chronic pelvic pain

In this study over a 10-year period, 1584 patients complaining of infertility of more than 1 year duration were evaluated for their laparoscopic findings in relation to the presence or not of chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Infertility was the only complaint in 1215 cases (group 1), whereas 369 patients...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reproductive biomedicine online 2006-03, Vol.12 (3), p.347-353
Main Authors: Milingos, Spyros, Protopapas, Athanasios, Kallipolitis, George, Drakakis, Petros, Makrigiannakis, Antonios, Liapi, Anthi, Milingos, Dimitrios, Antsaklis, Aris, Michalas, Stylianos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
abdominal pain
adhesions
Adult
Chronic Disease
chronic pelvic pain
endometriosis
Female
Humans
Infertility, Female - diagnosis
Infertility, Female - diagnostic imaging
Infertility, Female - physiopathology
Laparoscopy
Pelvic Pain - diagnosis
Pelvic Pain - diagnostic imaging
Pelvic Pain - physiopathology
Pelvis - pathology
Ultrasonography
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Summary:In this study over a 10-year period, 1584 patients complaining of infertility of more than 1 year duration were evaluated for their laparoscopic findings in relation to the presence or not of chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Infertility was the only complaint in 1215 cases (group 1), whereas 369 patients complained of infertility and CPP (group 2). All cases underwent routine infertility investigation and pelvic ultrasonography, followed by diagnostic laparoscopy, with infertility-only cases acting as a control group. At laparoscopy 76.7% of patients with CPP were found with pelvic pathology, compared with only 42.6% of cases without CPP (P ≤ 0.0001). Omental–abdominal wall adhesions, advanced endometriosis, endometriomas with adhesions, pelvic venous congestion, and hydrosalpinges with pelvic adhesions were significantly more frequent in cases with CPP. Dysmenorrhoea was the most frequent type of CPP. Cases with CPP and a negative laparoscopy were further investigated using a multidisciplinary approach. In conclusion, chronic pelvic pain can be the result of several pelvic pathologies. Infertile patients with CPP are much more frequently found with an abnormal pelvis in comparison with cases without CPP. Laparoscopy is an invaluable diagnostic tool especially for symptomatic patients and should be used early in their diagnostic infertility work-up.
ISSN:1472-6483
1472-6491
DOI:10.1016/S1472-6483(10)61008-5