Abstract
Objective: Review available literature on pelvic inflammatory disease in postmenopausal women.Design: MEDLINE literature review from 1966 to 1999.Results: Pelvic inflammatory disease is uncommon in postmenopausal women. It is polymicrobial, often is concurrent with tuboovarian abscess formation, and is often associated with other diagnoses.Conclusion: Postmenopausal women with pelvic inflammatory disease are best treated with inpatient parenteral antimicrobials and appropriate imaging studies. Failure to respond to antibiotics should yield a low threshold for surgery, and consideration of alternative diagnoses should be entertained. Infect. Dis. Obstet. Gynecol. 7:248–252, 1999.