Latest news with #MedicineandHealth
The Age
24-05-2025
- Health
- The Age
‘I was alive but not living': The chance discovery that saved Lilli chronic pelvic pain
'What did you do to me?' is not a phrase doctors want to hear from a patient after surgery. But for vascular surgeon Laurencia Villalba, it became a welcome pattern among her female patients with varicose veins. 'I'd answer, 'I fixed your leg', and they would say, 'but the pelvic pain is gone too',' said associate professor Villalba, an honorary fellow at the University of Wollongong's faculty of Science, Medicine and Health. Persistent pelvic pain affects between 15 and 25 per cent of Australian women. But research into the poorly understood, complex and multifactorial causes is underfunded, leaving an estimated 50 per cent of cases undiagnosed. 'So, I started looking more closely and asking more questions, and I soon realised that a lot of my patients had chronic pelvic pain that had not been diagnosed, or treated or even investigated,' Villalba said. Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) is among the chronically under-researched contributors to chronic pelvic pain. It's characterised by damage to the major veins that run through the pelvis, restricting blood flow and causing pressure to build up. Some studies suggest this may contribute to 30 to 40 per cent of chronic pelvic pain cases where no other cause (such as endometriosis) can be identified. Loading One promising treatment is stenting, which involves inserting a small mesh tube to open a narrowing or blocked vein. The technique is more commonly associated with repairing the arteries of cardiovascular patients. A recent study, led by Villalba, followed 113 women (aged 17 to 88) with a blockage in an iliac vein – major veins running from each leg through the pelvis – who underwent stenting after suffering severe pelvic pain, some for up to 25 years. Before stenting, the women's median pain score was seven out of 10 (10 being the most severe).
Sydney Morning Herald
24-05-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I was alive but not living': The chance discovery that saved Lilli chronic pelvic pain
'What did you do to me?' is not a phrase doctors want to hear from a patient after surgery. But for vascular surgeon Laurencia Villalba, it became a welcome pattern among her female patients with varicose veins. 'I'd answer, 'I fixed your leg', and they would say, 'but the pelvic pain is gone too',' said associate professor Villalba, an honorary fellow at the University of Wollongong's faculty of Science, Medicine and Health. Persistent pelvic pain affects between 15 and 25 per cent of Australian women. But research into the poorly understood, complex and multifactorial causes is underfunded, leaving an estimated 50 per cent of cases undiagnosed. 'So, I started looking more closely and asking more questions, and I soon realised that a lot of my patients had chronic pelvic pain that had not been diagnosed, or treated or even investigated,' Villalba said. Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) is among the chronically under-researched contributors to chronic pelvic pain. It's characterised by damage to the major veins that run through the pelvis, restricting blood flow and causing pressure to build up. Some studies suggest this may contribute to 30 to 40 per cent of chronic pelvic pain cases where no other cause (such as endometriosis) can be identified. Loading One promising treatment is stenting, which involves inserting a small mesh tube to open a narrowing or blocked vein. The technique is more commonly associated with repairing the arteries of cardiovascular patients. A recent study, led by Villalba, followed 113 women (aged 17 to 88) with a blockage in an iliac vein – major veins running from each leg through the pelvis – who underwent stenting after suffering severe pelvic pain, some for up to 25 years. Before stenting, the women's median pain score was seven out of 10 (10 being the most severe).
