Abstract: |
This newsletter article reports on a recent conference (October 2005, Baltimore, Maryland), the Chronic Pelvic Pain-Chronic Prostatitis Scientific Workshop, which was sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Although a major focus was on chronic prostatitis in men, the conference also discussed interstitial cystitis (IC). The article outlines some of the workshop sessions, which covered neuropathic pain, pelvic pain conditions that occur in tandem with other pain conditions, how the pelvic organs are innervated and how pain from them is transmitted, pudendal neuralgia, the use of nerve blocks, new drugs that are currently in research studies, the role of inflammation in pelvic pain, the use of opioids to treat chronic pelvic pain, the genetic origins of pain sensitivity and responses, the differences in gender reactions to pain and to analgesic therapy, new approaches to measuring pain, working in tandem with patients to design measurements that are valuable to the patients as well as to the researchers, and the integration of physical and psychological therapies. The author notes the workshop presenters’ names and affiliations, although contact information is not provided. |