Interventional treatment options for women with pelvic pain

I.To provide an overview of current interventional treatment options for women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP).

II.Accessibility of CT imaging, ultrasound, and fluoroscopy have assisted the development of novel interventional techniques. Similarly, neuromodulation techniques have improved with the development of novel stimulation patterns and device implants.

III.Numerous small-scale studies report high success rates with injection intervention therapies in CPP but there are limited well designed large-scale studies that demonstrate superiority of treatment. Female pelvic pain is difficult to diagnose due to the multifactorial etiology and the variable presentation causing delay in accurate diagnosis and lack of response to conventional medical and initial interventional therapies. Despite the shortfalls of current studies, collectively our understanding of chronic pain conditions and helpful injection interventions are improving. Undoubtedly the breadth of current research will provide a rich foundation for future large-scale well-designed studies involving multiple disciplines with more uniform methods and criteria to produce reliable and reproducible results.