Pelvic pain: Acute

Chapter 26 PELVIC PAIN: ACUTE



Acute pelvic pain is pain felt in the pelvic area for less than 48 hours. It can be difficult to make the diagnosis on the basis of history and physical examination alone, because acute pelvic pain can have gynecologic, obstetric, urologic, musculoskeletal, or gastrointestinal causes. When a patient with acute pelvic pain initially presents for evaluation, it is important to quickly determine whether the patient is pregnant and whether the patient has a surgical emergency.


Pelvic inflammatory disease should be considered as a cause in all patients who are sexually active. Aggressive diagnosis and appropriate treatment in adolescent patients are important in order to avoid the long-term sequelae of pelvic inflammatory disease, including infertility, chronic pelvic pain, and ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy also should be considered in all sexually active patients with acute pelvic or abdominal pain.


Jun 4, 2016 | Posted by in GYNECOLOGY | Comments Off on Pelvic pain: Acute

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