Characteristics of patients admitted with tubo-ovarian abscess and surgical treatment in siriraj hospital

Objective: Tubo-ovarian abscess (TOA) is the most severe form of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). We aimed to demonstrate the characteristics of patients admitted with TOA in Siriraj Hospital and to assess the prevalence of surgical treatment. Methods: The descriptive chart reviews were conducted in all patients admitted with TOA during January 2008 -December 2012. One exclusion criterion was that the diagnosis was changed during the admission. Data were presented in n (%), mean ± S.D. Chi-square and Student t-test were used for the comparison between TOA with and without surgical treatment. A p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: From 122 patients admitted with TOA, 107 cases had the same diagnosis on discharge. Mean age was 33.1+ 11.8 years and mean BMI was 21.9 + 4.9 kg/m². Around half of them were nulliparous, 55.1% were married and 67.3% were sexually active. About 14% reported multiple partners. Surgical treatment was performed in 42% of the participants. The characteristics associated with surgical treatment included older age (38.6 ± 11.2 vs. 29.1 ± 10.7 years, p<0.001) and abscess size larger than 6 cm (75.6% vs. 22.6%, p<0.001). Conclusion: Older age and abscess size larger than 6 cm are associated with surgical treatment in patients with TOA.