IMR Press / CEOG / Volume 48 / Issue 6 / DOI: 10.31083/j.ceog4806210
Open Access Original Research
Five abdominal computer tomography characteristics facilitate diagnosis of spontaneous perforation of pyometra in women with acute abdomen: a case control study
Show Less
1 Key Laboratory of Integrated Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 116011 Dalian, Liaoning, China
2 Department of Pathology, Dalian Maternal and Child Health Hospital, 116021 Dalian, Liaoning, China
3 Performance and Quality Management Department, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 116011 Dalian, Liaoning, China
4 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute of High Altitude Medicine, People’s Hospital of Naqu Affiliated to Dalian Medical University, 852000 Tibet Autonomous Region, China
5 Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 116011 Dalian, Liaoning, China
6 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, People’s Hospital of Naqu, 850000 Naqu, Tibet Autonomous Region, China
7 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 116011 Dalian, Liaoning, China
8 Department of Clinical Laboratory, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 116011 Dalian, Liaoning, China
9 Department of Education, First Clinical School of Dalian Medical University, 116011 Dalian, Liaoning, China
10 Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 116011 Dalian, Liaoning, China
11 Department of Neurosurgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 116022 Dalian, Liaoning, China
12 Institute of High Altitude Medicine, People’s Hospital of Naqu Affiliated to Dalian Medical University, 852000 Tibet Autonomous Region, China
*Correspondence: drxgxu@163.com (Xiaoguang Xu); seriousdoc@163.com (Zhen Xiao)
These authors contributed equally.
Clin. Exp. Obstet. Gynecol. 2021, 48(6), 1324–1329; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.ceog4806210
Submitted: 8 December 2020 | Revised: 29 April 2021 | Accepted: 10 May 2021 | Published: 15 December 2021
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Abstract

Background: Spontaneous perforation of pyometra is a rare clinical emergency with high mortality. As pyometra perforation is difficult to recognize pre-operatively, many cases are mis-diagnosed as gastrointestinal (GI) rupture. This study aimed to develop a strategy to improve diagnostic accuracy of spontaneous uterine perforation in female patients with acute abdomen. Methods: Twenty-two women with spontaneous rupture of the uterus (twenty cases previously reported in the literature plus two cases from the authors’ hospital) were included in the study group, another 22 menopausal patients with GI perforation were selected as the control group. Radiologists carefully reviewed the CT images and reports and summarized some common signs in patients with spontaneous perforation of pyometra. GI patients’ CT images were also scrutinized for these characteristic signs. The occurrence of these features was calculated in both groups. All patients underwent abdominal surgical exploration and most of patients diagnosed with spontaneous perforation of pyometra received hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy. Results: Five characteristics were specifically detected in patients with uterine spontaneous perforation: (1) Fluid collected in the cul-de-sac, incidence 95.5%; (2) Fluid in the uterine cavity, incidence 100%; (3) Intra-uterine free air, incidence 90.9%; (4) Free air around the uterus, incidence 77.2%; (5) Defects on the uterine wall, incidence 72.7%. However, these five signs were rarely observed in control patients with GI perforation. A dignostic strategy combined clinical findings with raidiological features were developed to help identify these patients. Conclusions: The above five CT characteristics and the developed dignostic algorithm could be used as a tool to facilitate the preoperative diagnosis of spontaneous perforation of pyometra, although more tests are needed in large samples of cases.

Keywords
Acute abdomen
Computer tomography sign
Pelvic infection
Pyometra
Uterine perforation
Funding
XZ202001YD0005C/Tibet Local Science and Technology Project
XZ2020ZR-ZY77(Z)/Scientifical Funds of Medical Assistance Program for Tibet from Tibet Health Committee
XZ2020ZRZY78(Z)/Scientifical Funds of Medical Assistance Program for Tibet from Tibet Health Committee
2019-BS-073/Natural Science Funds of Liaoning
LZ2019044/Scientific Funds of Liaoning Education Department
Figures
Fig. 1.
Share
Back to top