How can we reduce negative laparoscopies for pelvic pain?

Nilanjana Singh, N. Singh, M Rashid, Mumtaz Rashid, Rasika Herath, R P Herath
Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology : the journal of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology · 2011 · vol. 31(1) , pp. 62–68 · doi:10.3109/01443615.2010.530357 · PMID:21280997 · W2104596046
Observational OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 1 in-corpus citation
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-07-24 ⓘ

This study found that deficient history-taking and limited value of ultrasound and bimanual exams in initial assessments for pelvic pain led to many negative laparoscopies, suggesting a need for improved structured assessment and patient selection.

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

Abstract

Chronic pelvic pain is a common condition and the RCOG guideline provides an evidence-based framework for the initial assessment. This study investigated the adequacy and relevance of the initial assessment in patients who underwent elective laparoscopic procedure for pelvic pain. History-taking was found to be deficient and was unable to identify factors which may be related to the cause or perception of the pain. Only a small percentage benefitted from a therapeutic trial of hormonal and non-hormonal agents and referral to other specialities. Ultrasound and bimanual examination were both found to be of little value. Laparoscopy assisted in diagnosis in 45% of patients. A structured initial assessment and targeted selection of patients for laparoscopy would reduce the number of patients with normal findings and thus, it would reduce the number of women who suffer pain and isolation after a negative laparoscopy.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

chronic_pelvic_pain

MeSH descriptors

Evidence-Based Medicine Laparoscopy Pelvic Pain Unnecessary Procedures Adolescent Adult Chronic Disease Female Hormones Hormones Humans Medical Audit Middle Aged Pelvic Pain Pelvic Pain Retrospective Studies Young Adult

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

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. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (30)

Cited by (1)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:08:28.697392+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-13T06:25:51.201866+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK