Introduction:
For the past century, countless attempts have been made to find
physio-pathological explanations for chronic pelvic pain in women as
well as for the severe and disabling forms of dysmenorrhoea that can
lead to absence from school or even work, often with serious
socio-economic consequences (1).
Research on this subject began in the 1950s with Allen and Masters’
theory on tears in the large ligament (2). Then came the role of uterine
retroversion in the 1960s (3), the effect of intra-peritoneal adhesions
from the 1970s (4), the effect of prostaglandins in the 1980s (5), the
possible role of pelvic varicose veins in the 1990s (6), Petros’ theory
of ligament laxity (7) from the 2000s, and finally, more recently,
endometriosis (8) which is now widely mentioned, despite a long period
of disinterest.
However, although endometriosis is one of the major underlying causes of
chronic pelvic pain and severe dysmenorrhoea, it does not explain all of
the symptoms.