Chronic pelvic pain: An imaging approach

Chronic pelvic pain is defined as disabling pain of at least six months duration. Chronic pelvic pain has often multiple causative factors. Careful analysis of clinical history and detailed clinical examination must be carried out to guide further imaging investigations. Endometriosis is a common cause of chronic pelvic pain, although there is no correlation between the severity of lesions and pain intensity. Pelvic ultrasonography should be the first line imaging examination to search for causative conditions that include endometriosis, adenomyosis, pelvic varices and chronic infection. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is useful for making the positive diagnosis and assessing the spread of endometriosis. MRI is more accurate than ultrasonography for the diagnosis of tubo-ovarian abscess when an adnexal mass is identified. Duplex and color Doppler ultrasonography as well as MR angiography are the best imaging technique for the diagnosis of pelvic congestion syndrome. In patients with pudendal neuralgia, cross-sectional imaging help exclude nerve compression.