OVARIAN VENOGRAPHY & OVARIAN VEIN EMBOLIZATION

About 200,000 women suffer from chronic pelvic pain due to abnormal ovarian veins and varicose veins in the pelvis. This condition -- called pelvic congestion syndrome -- occurs when abnormal blood flow stretches the veins causing blood to pool in the pelvis.

Women with chronic pelvic pain may have pelvic congestion syndrome due to varicosities of the ovarian veins. These women may have increasing pain with standing late in the day, post coital pain or vulvar varicosities. This can only be reliably diagnosed with venography, and can be treated percutaneously similar to male varicocele occlusion. Frequently these patients and their physicians are quite frustrated in the unsuccessful pursuit of the cause for chronic pelvic pain.

Many women with this syndrome have pain during or after intercourse, or after long periods of standing or bearing down.

A two-step procedure -- ovarian vein venography and ovarian vein embolization -- is used to diagnose and treat patients. During the procedure doctors thread a small catheter through a patient's vein until it reaches the ovarian veins. A special dye is injected for an X-ray study of the area. If the patient has abnormal veins, tiny metal coils are injected through the catheter to interrupt the blood flow to the veins and alleviate symptoms. 80% of women have pain improvement or relief within 2-3 weeks.

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