Laparoscopic Treatment for Chronic Pelvic Pain: Results from Three-Year Follow-up

Abstract

One hundred patients were treated with laparoscopic techniques for chronic pelvic pain. These procedures included uterosacral nerve vaporization, resection and vaporization of endometriosis, hernia repair, appendectomy, presacral neurectomy, and ovarian surgery. Follow-up over a 3 year period revealed the following results. Women with significant endometriosis had a 75% cure rate with a change in quality of life index from a preoperative level of pain of 8 to a postoperative level of pain of 2. A Score of 1 is no pain and 10 is maximum pain. Patients who did not have endometriosis had an 80% cure rate with a reduction in pain level to an average of 2 from preoperative levels averaging 9. The results and trends from these procedures indicate that approximately 75% of all patients with chronic pelvic pain can be successfully treated by conservative laparoscopic techniques. Adenomyosis has been demonstrated to be the condition resulting in the most failures of treatment.