Neurogynecology. A term few people are yet familiar with but one that is sure to soon gain a prominent place in the vocabulary of gender medicine. For it is a new discipline that opens a door to hope for many women who suffer from chronic pain in the genital and pelvic area. There are in fact particularly complex female pathologies, in their causes as well as in their manifestations, which are still as of today difficult first to diagnose and then to treat.
It is precisely by looking at these delicate conditions that often have a devastating impact on women’s lives, starting with vulvodinia and severe endometriosis, moving through chronic pelvic pain and neuropatia del pudendo to infertility, that neurogynecology was born, which aims to approach them from a novel perspective, bringing together different disciplines to address and resolve a suffering that still too often remains unanswered, even unnamed
The birth of a different approach
The “christening” of the new branch of medicine that explores the profound link between gynecology and neuroscience took place at the 54th Congress of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, the leading scientific society of minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, held in Vancouver last November, during which Dr. Ceccaroni was honored with the “Original Innovator” honor for his ideas that, once considered groundbreaking, have now become a standard of treatment
From Leonardo to the present day
But what specifically is it all about? “Neurogynecology,” says Dr. Ceccaroni, “represents a bridge that unites anatomy, neuroscience and surgical innovation. It is a scientific branch that, by connecting different fields of research, aims to interpret and analyze all those delicate mechanisms that underlie pain, particularly chronic pain, passing through the study of biological, genetic and immunological phenomena related to neuroinflammation and infertility.” A “fledgling” branch, of course, but one that has its roots in the legacy of a great scientist like Leonardo Da Vinci, the first to precisely design the peripheral nervous system. “Neurogynecology is thus proposed as the ‘science that connects the nerves,’ taking women’s medicine from Da Vinci’s precise anatomical studies to the frontiers of neuroscience and biotechnology,” Ceccaroni adds
A step forward for all women
The advent of neurogynecology certainly represents a revolution for all women who want to better understand how their bodies work, but especially for those who have often been living with pain for years that severely affects their quality of life.
Taking into consideration no longer only the gynecological sphere but extending the gaze to the entire nervous system, delving into the interaction between nerves and the female reproductive system opens up the concrete possibility of getting to identify earlier and precisely the causes of pain and identify a treatment pathway that not only alleviates but also resolves the pathology. Certainly a step forward in gender medicine with significant spin-offs on the quality of care reserved for complex pathologies affecting the female universe
Neurogynecology: treatment but also prevention
This is already the present but the future of neurogynecology also sees other goals to be achieved. “These include the development of new surgical techniques aimed at preserving nerve fibers and pelvic function after very invasive surgeries for gynecological tumors and infiltrative diseases such as severe pelvic endometriosis,” Ceccaroni continues.
“An additional area of investigation and research from ISNG will involve the study and development of novel neurorigeneration factors and biosynthetic structures for the support and regeneration of nerve fibers damaged by infiltrative disease or following radical surgery.” With a gaze that never loses sight of cure, then, but also turns to prevention so that it will be possible, in a hopefully near time, to identify the neurological causes of pelvic pain so as to buffer it before it can even present itself in its dramatic intrusiveness.