Pelvic Congestion Syndrome

More than 30% of the US female population suffer from pelvic pain. A possible cause for this chronic pain may be varicose veins in the pelvis, also known as pelvic congestion syndrome. Women with this condition will experience worsening pain through the day when standing.

Similar to varicose veins in the leg, pelvic congestion syndrome is caused by malfunctioning vein valves that cause improper circulation and cause blood to pool in the veins.

A hysterectomy can be done along with tying off or removing the veins as treatment but this is a major surgery involving hospital stay and long recovery time. It also takes away the ability for pregnancy for the women.

Treatment: Pelvic Congestion Embolization

Embolization of these veins involve using X-ray fluoroscopy to guide catheters to the affected vein. Then a drug is injected that causes these problematic vessels to shrink and eventually dissolve, forcing circulation to be rerouted to other veins. This procedure is successful in 85-95% of patients and has very short recovery times.