Pattern of pelvic mass among women attending a gynaecology department of university hospital in Sindh

To analyze patients with pelvic mass according to age, parity, clinical presentation, pathology and operative procedures according to the type of mass, at a tertiary care hospital of Sindh-Pakistan. Descriptive case series. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology [Unit I], Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad; from January to December 2007. All women of any age and parity presenting with pelvic mass, diagnosed on history, clinical examination and/or on ultrasound were included. Type of pelvic mass was confirmed at surgery and on histopathology. In total, 110 patients were studied. Sixty-one [55.45%] participants were aged between 30-50 years while only one patient was under 20 years and 2 over 70 years. The majority of women were parous. The main clinical presentation was lower abdominal pain in 42 [38.18%] patients, followed by menstrual disturbances in 38[34.54%] women. Eighty-four [76.36%] patients were diagnosed on first clinical examination, and confirmed further by ultrasound. Among all, 104 [94.54%] patients were diagnosed through ultrasound. Sixty-eight [61.82%] patients had genital tract tumors while 4 had non-gynaecological mass. In 10[9.1%] patients, size of mass was >20cm; however, malignant lesions were less common and under 10 cm in size. Every women presenting with pelvic mass irrespective of age and parity must be thoroughly investigated and treated. Non-gynaecological masses may also be diagnosed; therefore, surgeon must be competent enough to deal with these masses