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Management of Pelvic Pain

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Handbook of Gynecology

Abstract

Pelvic pain in women is a diverse condition, with a wide variety of etiologies both related and unrelated to the female reproductive organs. In addition to pain of gynecologic origin, there may be urologic, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, neurologic, and vascular origins to pelvic pain. Etiologies range from infection, inflammation, menstruation, pregnancy, neoplasm, adnexal torsion, alterations of anatomy, adhesive disease, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, kidney stones, irritable bowel syndrome, painful bladder syndrome, pelvic organ prolapse, pelvic congestion, to vascular abnormalities. Pelvic pain is divided into acute and chronic pain, and while there can be significant overlap in etiologies, it is important to quickly rule out or identify critical or life-threating causes of acute pelvic pain. As management of pelvic pain varies significantly by etiology, a careful history and physical exam followed by appropriate laboratory and diagnostic studies is crucial to narrow the differential diagnosis and improve likelihood of effective symptom management.

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Correspondence to Anna Reinert .

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Cox, K., Shoupe, D., Reinert, A. (2022). Management of Pelvic Pain. In: Shoupe, D. (eds) Handbook of Gynecology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17002-2_86-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17002-2_86-2

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