OBJECTIVE:

to describe the socio-demographic and clinical variables related to pelvic inflammatory disease cases of patients treated in the Hospital Universitario de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia and explore the relationship of these variables with the need for surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

retrospective study and analysis of medical records of patients treated between 2013 and 2014 in the “Hospital Universitario de Santander”. Data analysis was performed with STATA 12.1. Evaluation between the need for surgery and other variables using the X2 test or the Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS:

212 patients were included: 136 (64.2%) hospitalized, 35 (25.7%) required surgical intervention. For the hospitalized patients, the main regimen was clindamycin and gentamicin (55 de 136: 41.4%); the patients with ambulatory treatment received: metronidazole and doxycycline (21 de 76: 27.6%). The variables significantly associated with the need for surgery were: ultrasound findings, the diagnostic value of white blood cells and of PCR and active comorbidities.

CONCLUSION:

pelvic inflammatory disease should be considered a differential diagnosis in any reproductive age female patient with abdominal pain; basic paraclinical parameters are a useful approach to determine the need for surgery in patients who present an acute picture.