CT Findings of Acute Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Purpose: To determine the computed tomographic (CT) findings of acute pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).

Methods: This retrospective, single-institution case-control study was approved by our institutional review board, and the informed consent was waived owing to the retrospective nature of the study. CT images of 32 women with clinically proven acute PID and 32 control subjects with other conditions of similar presentation were retrospectively reviewed. Analysis of CT findings included hepatic capsular enhancement, pelvic fat haziness, complicated ascites, uterine serosal enhancement, tubal thickening, endometritis, and oophoritis. Comparison of CT findings was performed with the Chi square test or the Fisher exact test and logistic regression analysis was used to determine significant CT findings in predicting PID.

Results: The CT findings that showed a statistically significant difference were hepatic capsular enhancement on late arterial phase (p = 0.003), pelvic fat haziness (p = 0.045), and tubal thickening (p = 0.001). Subsequent multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the presence of hepatic capsular enhancement on late arterial phase and tubal thickening were significant predictors of PID (hepatic capsular enhancement on late arterial phase, p = 0.015, odds ratio [OR] = 4.8; tubal thickening, p = 0.005, OR = 10.5).

Conclusion: Diagnostic morphological CT findings in women with clinically proven PID and acute abdominal pain include hepatic capsular enhancement on late arterial phase and tubal thickening.