ORIGIN OF PERITONEAL FLUID IN WOMEN: AN OVARIAN EXUDATION PRODUCT

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Abstract
The volume of peritoneal fluid was measured after laparoscopic aspiration in 303 women. Contamination with blood was estimated at 4.2% by Hb assay. In 120 women with regular menstrual cycles, the volume of peritoneal fluid increased progressively during the follicular phase, was highest during the early luteal phase (20.0 .+-. 6.3 ml) and declined thereafter. In 89 women with moderate and mild endometriosis the amounts of peritoneal fluid were similar, but 9 women with severe endometriosis had lower (P < 0.05) volumes during the luteal phase. Women with inactive ovaries had uniformly low amounts of peritoneal fluid: 4.2 .+-. 2.3 ml in 31 women taking combined oral contraceptive pills; 4.7 .+-. 5.8 ml in 17 women taking 5 mg of lynoestrenol daily and 1.2 .+-. 1.9 ml in 20 postmenopausal women with an inactive endometrium. Two postmenopausal women with proliferative endometrium had 7 and 10 ml of peritoneal fluid. Women with active ovaries, 5 with absent or distally occluded Fallopian tubes and 7 without a uterus had normal amounts of peritoneal fluid. The volume of peritoneal fluid was not affected by pelvic varicose veins, a visible corpus luteum or an ovulation stigma. Peritoneal fluid appears to be predominantly an ovarian exudate, neither an exudate from the pelvic peritoneum nor a tubal secretion.