Dr. Lara Quintas Marquès

Why I focus on pain

I see myself as a humanistic doctor: behind every pain there is a person, with her own story, work, family and plans. I came to pelvic pain almost by chance and, over the years, it has become my passion. Few things in medicine change a patient's life as much as making sure the pain no longer controls it. Treating pain is, in many cases, giving back quality of life.

I earned my medical degree at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and trained as a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Hospital Universitari Mútua de Terrassa. At the end of my residency I made a decision that was unusual at the time: to spend two years in France training specifically in chronic pelvic pain.

In Aix-en-Provence I worked with Dr. Bautrant and in Nantes with Dr. Ploteau, gaining in-depth experience in the management of chronic pelvic pain and pelvic floor and perineal dysfunction. After two years in France, I returned to Barcelona, my hometown, to apply everything I had learned.

In France I learned a different way of working: careful clinical examination of the perineum and pelvic floor as the center of the diagnosis, with the nerve and the muscle as the key players, and not just the lesion visible on an image. I also learned the importance of a multimodal approach and of teamwork.

As soon as I returned, in 2016, I had the privilege of joining the Endometriosis Unit at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, where I took on the coordination of the Multidisciplinary Chronic Pelvic Pain Clinic, which I still lead today. I am also a Clinical Lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona.

I am currently working on my doctoral thesis, focused on central sensitization, nociplastic pain and comorbidities in patients with endometriosis. Our Unit has been awarded several grants to develop this line of research.

I combine this public hospital practice at Hospital Clínic with my private practice at two centers in Barcelona: Gineclinic and Women's Clínica Ginecológica.

I regularly speak at national and international congresses and courses on chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis. I am a board member of CONVERGENCES-PP (the European scientific society for chronic pelvic pain) and the coordinator of the Chronic Pelvic Pain Working Group of the Societat Catalana d'Obstetrícia i Ginecologia (Catalan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology).