Invited commentary

Abstract

Pelvic pain is an entity that is difficult to chatacterize and resolve, because it presents numerous issues. Firstly it is complicated for patients to describe all the symptoms involved in a direct way - because of embarrassment in speaking about this kind of problem, and difficulty in localizing the site, type, and frequency of the pain. Patients with pelvic pain who come to our attention are demoralized and confused by their illness because they have already been subjected to many examinations and diagnostic tests; they have already received different diagnoses and treatments that have not solved their basic problems. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Milan.