Chronic Pelvic Pain

A large percentage of my practice is women’s imaging and one of the most common complaints that I see on patient requisitions is “Chronic pelvic pain.” Chronic pelvic pain is diagnosed when pelvic pain lasts for more than 6 months duration. It is a common problem and affects approximately 1/7 women. It is responsible for 10-20 % of all gynecologic visits and is most common in women in the reproductive age group, particularly 26-30 years of age. In the US, the estimated medical costs for chronic pelvic pain evaluation (women aged 18-50 years) is approximately 881.5 million dollars per year. (medscape.com) Some causes of chronic pelvic pain include: Gynecologic: Fibroids, adenomyosis, endometriosis, pelvic congestion syndrome (related to posture and worse at the end of the day), cancer of the uterus and ovaries, scarring or adhesions due to previous surgery. Urologic