Diagnostic laparoscopy in chronic pelvic pain: What are the issues in a resource poor country?

A Omole-Ohonsi, TA Aiyedun
In: Tropical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology · 2012 · vol. 29(1) , pp. 103–109 · W140387823
article OA: green CC0
🔓 Open OA copy Full text JSON View on OpenAlex
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-07, 2026-07-19 ⓘ

This study assessed the accuracy of non-invasive diagnoses for chronic pelvic pain versus laparoscopy in Nigeria, finding significant discrepancies and advocating for laparoscopy's primary role.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Background : In resource poor countries, the underlying diagnosis of the cause of chronic pelvic pain are unclear in many of the cases, because of the poor sophistication of the non-invasive investigation tools that are employed in making the diagnosis, and laparoscope is not available in many health facilities that manage gynaecological emergencies. A study of the role of diagnostic laparoscopy is necessary. Aim : To determine the role of diagnostic laparoscopy in management of chronic pelvic pain in a resource poor country. Method : A two year prospective, comparative study of 44 patients with chronic pelvic pain, who had initial diagnosis following non-invasive investigations (clinical/laboratory/ultrasound evaluation) and final diagnosis following laparoscopy, at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria. The correlation of the initial diagnosis with final diagnosis (accuracy of initial diagnosis) was done using tests of validity. Results : The period incidence was 27.9% of all gynaecological diagnostic laparoscopy. The sensitivity of initial diagnosis for ectopic pregnancy was 60.0%, specificity 89.5%, positive predictive value (PPV) 81.8%, negative predictive value (NPV) 51.5%, and accuracy 59.1%. For chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, the sensitivity was 23.3%, specificity 70.3%, PPV 21.4%, NPV 86.7%, and accuracy 61.4%. For pelvic adhesions, sensitivity was 0.0%, specificity 100.0%, PPV 0.0%, NPV 84.1% and accuracy 84.1%, and for uterine fibroids, the sensitivity was 100%, specificity 100%, PPV 100%, NPV 100% and accuracy 100%. Conclusion : Diagnostic laparoscopy should be strongly considered as a primary evaluation tool in the management of chronic pelvic pain in resource poor countries. Keywords : Chronic pelvic pain, resource poor countries, initial diagnosis, final diagnosis, tests of validity
Full text 1,959 characters · extracted from oa-html · 5 sections · click to expand

Abstract

Background: In resource poor countries, the underlying diagnosis of the cause of chronic pelvic pain are unclear in many of the cases, because of the poor sophistication of the non-invasive investigation tools that are employed in making the diagnosis, and laparoscope is not available in many health facilities that manage gynaecological emergencies. A study of the role of diagnostic laparoscopy is necessary. Aim: To determine the role of diagnostic laparoscopy in management of chronic pelvic pain in a resource poor country.

Method

A two year prospective, comparative study of 44 patients with chronic pelvic pain, who had initial diagnosis following non-invasive investigations (clinical/laboratory/ultrasound evaluation) and final diagnosis following laparoscopy, at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria. The correlation of the initial diagnosis with final diagnosis (accuracy of initial diagnosis) was done using tests of validity.

Results

The period incidence was 27.9% of all gynaecological diagnostic laparoscopy. The sensitivity of initial diagnosis for ectopic pregnancy was 60.0%, specificity 89.5%, positive predictive value (PPV) 81.8%, negative predictive value (NPV) 51.5%, and accuracy 59.1%. For chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, the sensitivity was 23.3%, specificity 70.3%, PPV 21.4%, NPV 86.7%, and accuracy 61.4%. For pelvic adhesions, sensitivity was 0.0%, specificity 100.0%, PPV 0.0%, NPV 84.1% and accuracy 84.1%, and for uterine fibroids, the sensitivity was 100%, specificity 100%, PPV 100%, NPV 100% and accuracy 100%.

Conclusion

Diagnostic laparoscopy should be strongly considered as a primary evaluation tool in the management of chronic pelvic pain in resource poor countries.

Keywords

Chronic pelvic pain, resource poor countries, initial diagnosis, final diagnosis, tests of validity

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

⚙ Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-html ⓘ

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

Condition tags

chronic_pelvic_pain

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (11)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK