This review presents modern information on the anatomy of pelvic veins, mechanisms of development of pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) and venous pelvic pain (VPP), methods for verifying the venous nature of pelvic pain, as well as opportunities of various surgical interventions on the gonadal veins in treatment of PCS and relief of its most severe symptom, VPP. A comparative analysis of resection and embolization treatment methods and their effects on VPP, as well as rates of postprocedural complications, was carried out. The issues of elimination of specific compression syndromes causing occurrence of VPP, by using open, endoscopic and endovascular techniques are addressed.
Keywords: Pelvic venous pain; embolization of gonadal veins; iliac vein stenting; pelvic congestion syndrome; resection of gonadal veins.