Botulinum toxin injection relieves dysmenorrhea and chronic pelvic pain in women
France: A study published in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology "Uterine botulinum toxin injections in severe dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and chronic pelvic pain: Results on quality of life, pain level and medical consumption" by Jean Martial Kouame et al. has concluded that botulinum toxin injection is effective in treating chronic pelvic pain.
Researchers evaluated the quality of life (QoL), level of pain and medical consumption before and after uterine botulinum toxin (BT) injections in severe dysmenorrhea, Dyspareunia and chronic pelvic pain following the failure of conventional treatment, including hormonal and analgesics, in their before and after study using the database of a pilot study.
Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I), EuroQol health-related QoL (EQ-5D-5L), EuroQol-visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS), Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), health state preference values, cost and of health care consumption were measured as primary outcomes.
The two-time points were 12 months before and after uterine BT injection.
The results of this research are:
- BT improved Median visual analogue scale scores regarding the patients' primary source of pain (31.6 vs 80.55).
- There was a reduction in patients' proportion reporting Dyspareunia and pain during menstruation.
- The PGI-I scale showed an increase in the proportion of patients satisfied with treatment following BT injection.
- BT injection was associated with enhanced quality of life and reduced health care consumption, and cost leading to substantial savings (389,34€) per patient.
The study has addressed the role of botulinum toxin injection.
Based on the findings in the study, it is effective in dysmenorrhea, and chronic pelvic pain with reduced cost and health care consumption.
Further reading:
Uterine botulinum toxin injections in severe dysmenorrhea, Dyspareunia and chronic pelvic pain: Results on quality of life, pain level and medical consumption. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2023 Apr 28;285:164-169. doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2023.04.019.
