Diagnosis and treatment of pelvic inflammatory disease and gonorrhea in the emergency department.

One hundred emergency department charts on cases of suspected pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) were reviewed to determine method of diagnosis and treatment. Seventy-three gonococcus smears, 60 gonococcus cultures, and 53 VDRL tests for syphilis were done. Of these, 20 smears, 19 cultures, and 1 VDRL were positive. All 100 patients were treated for gonorrhea with either spectinomycin, tetracycline, ampicillin or penicillin. The author concludes there is no need to procure VDRL tests on all patients with suspected gonorrhea, nor do gonococcus cultures on all patients with suspected PID. Also, since only 39% of patients had a positive gonococcus smear or culture, penicillin may not always be the appropriate treatment.