[Chronic pelvic pain].

BACKGROUND

Chronic pelvic pain represents a multifactorial problem of unknown etiology. International standardized diagnostic and therapeutic approaches do not exist.

METHODS

Medline and PubMed databases were searched for systematic reviews and guidelines for prevalence and therapy of chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

RESULTS

Frequency, clinical picture, and treatment concepts for various forms of chronic pelvic pain are presented. If established treatments fail, then multimodal therapy concepts are recommended. Controlled studies, which fulfill evidence-based medicine criteria, are lacking.

CONCLUSION

The success of multimodal therapeutic approaches in other chronic pain diseases should lead to the development and verification of these for chronic pelvic pain.