Combined (physical and medical treatment) therapy versus physical treatment alone and medical treatment alone in the management of chronic pelvic inflammatory disease

Abstract

Context Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is the inflammation of the upper genital tract involving the fallopian tubes as well as the ovaries. Symptoms of PID are fever, cervical motion tenderness, lower abdominal pain, new or different discharge, painful intercourse, uterine and adnexal tenderness, and irregular menstruation. Aim The aim was to determine the therapeutic efficacy of combined shortwave diathermy and medical treatment in the management of chronic PID in comparison to either therapy alone. Materials and methods Sixty participants were recruited and diagnosed as chronic PID for more than 6 months by history, clinical examination, cervical swab, and ultrasonography. They were divided into three groups: Statistical analysis Descriptive and analytic study by SPSS version 16 on IBM compatible computer. Results There was a statistically highly significant clinical improvement regarding itching, discharge and pain relief, laboratory improvement regarding the number of pus cells in cervical swab, and radiological improvement regarding US parameters in the first group of patients with PID compared with the baseline and compared with other groups. Conclusion The greatest therapeutic efficacy can be obtained from combined physical and medical treatment compared with each line alone in the treatment of chronic PID.

Keywords

• combined therapy
• medical treatment
• pelvic inflammatory disease
• physical therapy
• shortwave diathermy
• visual analog scale