Chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a literature review highlighting a worldwide burden and the need for specific research in Southern Africa - the invisible burden

Background

Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) is among the most clinically challenging and resource-intensive conditions encountered in urology and gynaecology. It is a multifactorial disorder of persistent or recurrent pelvic pain lasting at least three to six months, associated with impaired physical, psychological, sexual and social functioning. Various classifications have been proposed to describe the diverse phenotypic presentations, as well as the frequent overlap of pain conditions and comorbidities. A common classification used by urologists is interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) in women and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) in men. The European Association of Urology (EAU) distinguishes secondary CPPS, in which identifiable pathology such as Hunner-lesion interstitial cystitis, chronic bacterial prostatitis or endometriosis is present, from primary CPPS, which occurs without demonstrable pathology. This review mainly addresses the latter.