Laparoscopy for presumed nonacute salpingitis: a new look at an old problem.

The increased prevalence of venereal disease among adolescents has resulted in a rise in nonacute salpingitis. Laparoscopy was evaluated as an aid in the diagnosis and treatment of presumed nonacute salpingitis in 29 adolescents. The patients had a mean duration of symptoms of 5.5 months, 50% had a recent history of discharge and/or bilateral pelvic pain, and on examination 50% had pain on motion of the cervix, 75% had adnexal tenderness, and 50% had a palpable adnexal fullness or mass. Anatomic findings at laparoscopy included normal pelvic structures in 8, active salpingitis in 13 and nonacute disease in 8. The anaerobic, aerobic, and viral peritoneal cultures obtained at laparascopy from 22 patients resulted in no growth in 18. The four with positive cultures had one organism identified in three cases and two organisms in one case. Anatomic findings were more helpful in diagnosis than the bacteriologic analysis, and our results suggest that laparoscopy increases diagnostic accuracy in the management of presumed nonacute salpingitis.