[The practice guideline 'pelvic inflammatory disease' (first revision) from the Dutch College of General Practitioners; a response from the perspective of general practice].

In the revised guideline of the Dutch College of General Practitioners on pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), 5 criteria must be met to establish the diagnosis: (a) non-acute lower abdominal pain; (b) pain on upward movement or adnexal tenderness during vaginal touch; (c) painful or swollen adnexae; (d) ESR > or = 15 mm in the 1st hour or a temperature > 38 degrees C, and (e) no indications for other diseases, such as appendicitis or an extra-uterine pregnancy. Treatment is started when all criteria are met. In case ofuncertainty, the patient should be referred to a gynaecologist. In quite a few patients, however, the accumulated certainty obtained by a general practitioner from the 5 criteria still leaves room for doubt about the right moment for referral. Another potential weak point in this otherwise very practicable guideline is that the start of treatment in young women of childbearing age, in whom this disease is most prevalent, could well have been recommended at an earlier stage.