Abstract
Chronic pelvic pain is one of the most challenging problems gynecologists encounter in clinical practice. Although management often involves a combination of medical, physical, cognitive, and behavioral therapies, trigger point injections offer an additional option for treatment in a subset of patients. This office-based procedure has been used to improve pain associated with vaginismus, levator ani hypertonicity, vulvodynia, pudendal and ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric neuralgia. In this textbook chapter we review various injections used to treat pelvic pain, summarize the evidence for their use, and describe their role in treatment.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Mathias SD, Kuppermann M, Liberman RF, Lipschutz RC, Steege JF. Chronic pelvic pain: prevalence, health-related quality of life, and economic correlates. Obstet Gynecol. 1996;87:321–7.
Jamieson DJ, Steege JF. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, pelvic pain, and irritable bowel syndrome in primary care practices. Obstet Gynecol. 1996;87:55–8.
Ling FW, Slocumb JC. Use of trigger point injections in chronic pelvic pain. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 1993;20(4):809–15.
Langford CF, Udvari NS, Ghoniem GM. Levator ani trigger point injections: an underutilized treatment for chronic pelvic pain. Neurourol Urodyn. 2007;26(1):59–62.
Moldwin RM, Fariello JY. Myofascial trigger points of the pelvic floor: associations with urological pain syndromes and treatment strategies including injection therapy. Curr Urol Rep. 2013;14(5):409–17. doi:10.1007/s11934-013-0360-7.
Abbott JA. The use of botulinum toxin in the pelvic floor for women with chronic pelvic pain—a new answer to old problems? J Minim Invasive Gynecol. 2009;16(2):130–5.
Jabbari B. Botulinum neurotoxins in the treatment of refractory pain. Nat Clin Pract Neurol. 2008;4(12):676–85.
Cui K, Khanijou S, Rubino J, Aoki KR. Subcutaneous administration of botulinum toxin A reduces formalin-induced pain. Pain. 2004;107:125–33.
Criscuolo CM. Interventional approaches to the management of myofascial pain syndrome. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2001;5:407–11.
Jarvis SK, Abbott JA, Lenart MB, Steensma A, Vancaille TG. Pilot study of botulinum toxin type A in the treatment of chronic pelvic pain associated with spasm of the levator ani muscles. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2004;44:46–50.
Romito S, Bottanelli M, Pellegrini M, Vicentini S, Rizzuto N, Bertolasi L. Botulinum toxin for the treatment of genital pain syndromes. Gynecol Obstet Invest. 2004;58:164–7.
Bertolasi L, Frasson E, Cappelletti JY, Vicentini S, Bordignon M, Graziottin A. Botulinum neurotoxin type a injections for vaginismus secondary to vulvar vestibulitis syndrome. Obstet Gynecol. 2009;114(5):1008–16.
Abbott JA, Jarvis SK, Lyons SD, Thomson A, Vancaille TG. Botulinum toxin type A for chronic pain and pelvic floor spasm in women. Obstet Gynecol. 2006;108(4):915–22.
Park AJ, Paraiso MFR. Successful use of botulinum toxin type A in the treatment of refractory postoperative dyspareunia. Obstet Gynecol. 2009;114:484–7.
Abbott J. Gynecological indications for the use of botulinum toxin in women with chronic pelvic pain. Toxicon. 2009;54:647–53.
Allergan, Inc 2013. Highlights of prescribing information. Accessed from: http://www.allergan.com/assets/pdf/botox_pi.pdf
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Practice bulletin #119: Female sexual dysfunction. 2011. http://www.acog.org/Resources-And-Publications/Practice-Bulletins/Committee-on-Practice-Bulletins-Gynecology/Female-Sexual-Dysfunction
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed (Text rev). Washington, DC: APA; 2000.
Dykstra DD, Presthus J. Botulinum toxin type A for the treatment of provoked vestibulodynia: an open-label, pilot study. J Reprod Med. 2006;51(6):467–70.
Yoon H, Chung WS, Shim BS. Botulinum toxin A for the management of vulvodynia. Int J Impot Res. 2007;19:84–7.
Petersen CD, Giraldi A, Lundvall L, Kristensen E. Botulinum toxin type A—a novel treatment for provoked vestibulodynia? Results from a randomized, placebo controlled, double-blinded study. J Sex Med. 2009;6(9):2523–37.
Lange O, Bigalke H, Dengler R, Wegner F, deGroot M, Wohlfarth K. Neutralizing antibodies and secondary therapy failure after treatment with botulinum toxin type A: much ado about nothing? Clin Neuropharmacol. 2009;32:213–8.
Ghazizadeh S, Nikzad M. Botulinum toxin in the treatment of refractory vaginismus. Obstet Gynecol. 2004;104:922–5.
Fortuna R, Vaz MA, Youssef AR, Longino D, Herzog W. Changes in contractile properties of muscles receiving repeat injections of botulinum toxin. J Biomech. 2011;44:39–44.
Nesbitt-Haws EM, Won H, Jarvis SK, Lyons SD, Vancaillie TG, Abbott JA. Improvement in pelvic pain with botulinum toxin type A—single vs. repeat injections. Toxicon. 2013;63:83–7.
Benson JT, Griffis K. Pudendal neuralgia, a severe pain syndrome. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2005;192:1663–8.
McDonald JS, Spigos DG. Computed tomography-guided pudendal block for treatment of pelvic pain due to pudendal neuropathy. Obstet Gynecol. 2000;95:306–9.
Hough DM, Wittenberg KH, Pawline W, Mause TP, King BF, Vrtiska TJ, Farrell MA, Antolak SJ. Chronic perineal pain caused by pudendal nerve entrapment: anatomy and CT-guided perineural injection technique. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2003;181(2):561–7.
Peng PW, Tumber PS. Ultrasound-guided interventional procedures for patients with chronic pelvic pain—a description of techniques and review of the literature. Pain Physician. 2008;11(2):214–24.
Whiteside JL, Barber MD, Walters MD, Falcone T. Anatomy of ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerves in relation to trocar placement and low transverse incisions. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003;189:1574–8.
Bell EA, Jones BP, Olufolabi AJ, Dexter F, Phillips-Bute B, Greengass RA, Penning DH, Reynolds JD. Iliohypogastric-ilioinguinal peripheral nerve block for post-cesarean delivery analgesia decreases morphine use but not opioid-related side effects. Can J Anaesth. 2002;49(7):694–700.
Wehbe SA, Ghulmiyyah LM, Dominique EH, Hosford SL, Ehleben CM, Saltzman SL, Sills ES. Prospective randomized trial of iliohypogastric-ilioinguinal nerve block on post-operative morphine use after inpatient surgery of the female reproductive tract. J Negat Results Biomed. 2008;7:11. doi:10.1186/1477-5751-7-11.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Miranne, J.M., Park, A.J. (2015). Trigger Point Injections for Pelvic Pain. In: Emery, J., Paraiso, M. (eds) Office-Based Gynecologic Surgical Procedures. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1414-2_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1414-2_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1413-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1414-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)