Pelvic Congestion Syndrome

Lindsay Machan, Janette D. Durham
In: Seminars in Interventional Radiology · 2013 · vol. 30(04) , pp. 372–380 · doi:10.1055/s-0033-1359731 · PMID:24436564 · PMC3835435 · W2028718405
review OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 9 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Pelvic congestion syndrome, characterized by pelvic venous insufficiency and varicosities, presents as chronic pelvic pain in premenopausal women, with endovascular embolization proving more effective than surgery in improving symptoms.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This paper reviews pelvic congestion syndrome as a cause of otherwise unexplained chronic pelvic pain in young, premenopausal, often multiparous women, describing its clinical presentation and imaging-based diagnostic pathway. It finds that pelvic venous insufficiency and pelvic varicosities—typically with ovarian vein reflux confirmed by venography, though transvaginal ultrasound may help—are central to diagnosis, and it reports that endovascular therapy using standardized pain assessments yields symptom reduction in about 70–90% of treated females despite technical variation. A stated limitation is that the condition remains underdiagnosed, which can affect recognition, and the review notes variation in treatment approaches among investigators. This paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Patients with pelvic congestion syndrome present with otherwise unexplained chronic pelvic pain that has been present for greater than 6 months, and anatomic findings that include pelvic venous insufficiency and pelvic varicosities. It remains an underdiagnosed explanation for pelvic pain in young, premenopausal, usually multiparous females. Symptoms include noncyclical, positional lower back, pelvic and upper thigh pain, dyspareunia, and prolonged postcoital discomfort. Symptoms worsen throughout the day and are exacerbated by activity or prolonged standing. Examination may reveal ovarian tenderness and unusual varicosities-vulvoperineal, posterior thigh, and gluteal. Diagnosis is suspected by clinical history and imaging that demonstrates pelvic varicosities. Venography is usually necessary to confirm ovarian vein reflux, although transvaginal ultrasound may be useful in documenting this finding. Endovascular therapy has been validated by several large patient series with long-term follow-up using standardized pain assessment surveys. Embolization has been shown to be significantly more effective than surgical therapy in improving symptoms in patients who fail hormonal therapy. Although there has been variation in approaches between investigators, the goal is elimination of ovarian vein reflux with or without direct sclerosis of enlarged pelvic varicosities. Symptom reduction is seen in 70 to 90% of the treated females despite technical variation.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

chronic_pelvic_paindyspareunia

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (24)

Cited by (9)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-12T06:13:51.797165+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK