The role of serological testing for <i>Chlamydia trachomatis</i> in differential diagnosis of pelvic pain

Abstract

Introduction. Pelvic pain is typically associated with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). The most common cause of PID is Chlamydia trachomatis. The aim of this study was to verify the role of serological testing for Chlamydia trachomatis in patients with suspected PID. Materials and method. The retrospective study included 185 patients with pelvic pain hospitalized at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2003 and 2004. Titers of anti-Chlamydia trachomatisIgG and IgA were measured by means ELISA immunoassays. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) and leukocyte count (WBC) were also determined. Final diagnosis was established on the basis of laparoscopic examination. Results. The presence of anti-Chlamydia trachomatis antibodies correlated significantly with abnormal values of ESR, WBC and CRP. The most common laparoscopic pathology were pelvic adhesions, typically found in women with elevated titers of anti-Chlamydia trachomatis IgG. Conclusion. Serological examination for Chlamydia trachomatis is helpful in evaluation of patients with suspected PID. Elevated titers of anti-Chlamydia trachomatis antibodies are frequently associated with laparoscopic evidence of pelvic adhesions and inflammation.

Development and implementation of the external quality assessment program for erythrocyte sedimentation rate in hematology laboratories in Thailand

“…Recent studies have evaluated the ESR as a screening test for infection in specific clinical instances, such as infection associated with orthopedic prostheses, pediatric bacterial infection, and gynecologic inflammatory disease. [14][15][16] Because the ESR determination is frequently performed in hematology laboratories, careful attention to all factors that may produce erroneous values is essential. The proficiency testing scheme has provided an assessment of the participant's measured values and their evaluated uncertainties.…”

Nonparametric estimation of distributions and diagnostic accuracy based on group‐tested results with differential misclassification

“…The publicly released chlamydia data include assay results of eligible participants aged 18‐39. Chlamydia, as one of the most common sexually transmitted disease, is caused by chlamydia trachomatis, an intracellular bacteria that can stimulate the change of the levels of inflammatory markers, such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate and CRP (Łój et al ., 2016; Park et al ., 2017). Here for illustration, we consider using CRP ranging from 0.01 to 2.34 as the biomarker for chlamydia; thus M is the indicator of presence of chlamydia in the urine specimen and X is the CRP in the blood specimen of a participant.…”