Highlights & Basics
- Chronic pelvic pain is a syndrome of pain arising from one or more pelvic organs, and can include any one or all pelvic viscera or muscles.
- A methodical, complete, criteria-based history is required to determine how many and which organ systems are involved and to uncover comorbid psychiatric conditions, particularly depression, or a history of abuse.
- The physical exam must be methodical and complete, searching for point tenderness in all individual pelvic muscles and organs, specifically including the vestibule, levator ani muscles, bladder, cervix and uterus, adnexa, and lower abdominal wall.
- Diagnostic tests are determined by the organ systems generating pain and may include urinalysis with culture, pelvic ultrasound, cystoscopy with hydrodistension, and diagnostic laparoscopy.
- Because chronic pain is sometimes a disorder of pain perception, minimal if any pathologic change may be found.
Quick Reference
History & Exam
Key Factors
Other Factors
Diagnostics Tests
Treatment Options
Definition
Epidemiology
Etiology
Pathophysiology
Citations
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Practice Bulletins-Gynecology. ACOG Practice bulletin no. 218: chronic pelvic pain. Obstet Gynecol. 2020 Mar;135(3):e98-109.[Abstract]
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Practice bulletin no. 114: management of endometriosis. Jul 2010 [internet publication].[Full Text]
European Association of Urology. Guidelines on chronic pelvic pain. Mar 2024 [internet publication].[Full Text]
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