Sacroiliitis in women--a late sequela to acute salpingitis

Fifty-seven women who were treated for severe acute salpingitis between June, 1974, and June, 1976, were examined in 1978, 24 to 48 months after their first hospitalization. At the same time, 31 healthy women matched for age and parity were examined. All patients and control subjects were examined independently by a gynecologist and a rheumatologist. Forty-two of the patients and all control subjects were examined by quantitative 99mTc-pertechnetate scanning of the sacroiliac joints. These same joints also were examined by x-ray in the 57 patients. Sacroiliitis was documented in 39 of the 57 salpingitis patients (68%) and in one of the control subjects (3%), a difference which was statistically significant. There was no difference between the two groups in the presence of histocompatibility antigen HLA B27. The findings strongly suggest a correlation between severe acute salpingitis and sacroiliitis in women.