Does laser therapy improve outcomes in genitourinary syndrome of menopause?

Twelve weeks following laser application, the therapeutic response in genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM)-afflicted ladies was on par with bogus laser treatments, says an article published in The International Journal of obstetrics and Gynecology. 

Genitourinary syndrome of the menopause, which affects 10% to 40% of postmenopausal women and rises to 66% by the age of 75, is characterized by symptoms and signs related to changes in the lower urinary and urogenital tracts after the menopause. However, only 25% of these women seek medical attention. In order to determine if CO2 laser therapy is more successful than sham application in alleviating the most bothersome symptom (MBS) in women with genitourinary syndrome of menopause, Ann-Sophie Page and colleagues conducted this study.

A tertiary center in Belgium conducted this sham-controlled, single-center, randomised, and double-blind experiment. For this study, 60 women with mild to severe GSM symptoms were chosen. All individuals finally got three treatments of laser followed by three applications of sham, either in that order or the opposite. The participant-reported change in MBS severity at 12 weeks was the main result. At 18 months following the commencement of the therapy, secondary outcomes comprised subjective (patient satisfaction, urine function, and sexual function) and objective (pH, Vaginal Health Index Score, in vivo microscopy) assessments measuring the treatment's short- and long-term effects. At each visit, adverse occurrences were noted.

The key findings of this study were:

The MBS severity score dropped in women who received laser treatment from 2.86±0.35 to 2.17±0.93 (23.60%; 95% CI 36.10% to 11.10%) as opposed to 2.90±0.31 to 2.52±0.78 (13.20%; 95% CI 22.70% to 3.73%) in women who received sham treatments (p = 0.13). 

Up to 18 months, no significant adverse effects were documented.

Reference: 

Page, A., Verbakel, J. Y., Verhaeghe, J., Latul, Y. P., Housmans, S., & Deprest, J. (2022). Laser versus sham for genitourinary syndrome of menopause: A randomised controlled trial. In BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (Vol. 130, Issue 3, pp. 312–319). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17335