Radiologic diagnosis of Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome

• Published in: Chinese medical journal Vol. 122; no. 6; pp. 741 - 744
• Main Authors: Wang, Cheng-Lin, Guo, Xue-Jun, Yuan, Zhi-Dong, Shi, Qiao, Hu, Xiao-Hong, Fang, Lin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Department of Radiology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518026, China 20.03.2009
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Adult; Appendicitis - diagnostic imaging; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - pathogenicity; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease - diagnostic imaging; Peritonitis - diagnostic imaging; Peritonitis - microbiology; Tomography, Spiral Computed; Ultrasonography; Young Adult; 淋菌性盆腔炎; 腹腔镜; 菲茨-休-柯蒂斯综合症; laparoscopy; acute gonococcal peritonitis; Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome
• ISSN: 0366-6999; 2542-5641; 2542-5641
• DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0366-6999.2009.06.028

Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome （FHCS） was reported by Curtis after he found a fibrous adhesion between the surface of the liver and peritoneum in patients with gonococcal pelvic inflammation during laparoscopy in 1930, and the first report by Fitz-Hugh as acute gonococcal peritonitis in the right upper quadrant abdomen was published in 1934, The so-called FHCS is believed to originate from an inflammation in the pelvis which may ascend toward the diaphragmatic surface of the liver along the right paracolic gutters to cause the inflammation of the liver capsule with right upper abdominal pain. Previously, FHCS was only seen in females at the age of 20 and 30 years and was often misdiagnosed as acute cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, gastrointestinal diseases, pleuritis, etc., because of involvement of the liver capsule and peritoneum with right upper abdominal pain as the major clinical symptom, which was related to the respiratory movement. We retrospectively reviewed 21 patients with FHCS to evaluate the clinical manifestations and CT and MRI findings of this disease.