Effectiveness of melatonin for the treatment of nocturia: a randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Nocturia affects health and quality of life (QoL). Current medical treatments can cause severe adverse effects, especially when treating elderly patients. Endogenous melatonin has a physiologic role in urinary bladder function, and the exogenous one may be beneficial for this condition. This article aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of melatonin for ameliorating nocturia in older women. METHODS: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at a university hospital in Thailand. Sixty women with nocturia, aged > 55 years, were prospectively recruited and were later randomly allocated to treatment (melatonin 2 mg/day, n = 30) and control (placebo, n = 30) arms for 2 weeks. Outcome measures included nocturia episodes, nocturia-related parameters, Nocturia Quality of Life Questionnaire (N-QoL) scores, and adverse events. RESULTS: The treatment and control groups were comparable in mean age (65.9 + 7.5 vs. 68.5 + 6.3 years). Both groups had comparable causes of nocturia with a baseline median voiding frequency of 2.3 (1.3, 6.3) and 2.3 (1.7, 5.3) episodes/night, respectively. The treatment group had significantly better outcomes than the placebo group in terms of median reduction in nocturia [-1.0 (-3.0, 0.0) vs. 0.0 (-2.3, 1.3) episodes/night; p < 0.001], increased median duration of the first uninterrupted sleep [1.0 (-0.3, 4.5) vs. 0.0 (-3.0, 2.3) h; p < 0.001], and improvement in N-QoL scoring, especially in the sleep/energy subscale (p = 0.019) and the total score (p = 0.016). Adverse events were comparable between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Melatonin can be considered a safe and effective treatment for nocturia in elderly women.

Prevalence of ovarian mass and diagnostic performance of ultrasonography pattern recognition among women at the Gynaecologic Ultrasonography Unit at University Hospital in Thailand.

The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence of ovarian masses and calculate the diagnostic performance of the pattern recognition approach in ovarian pathology. A total of 1001 patients diagnosed with ovarian mass were included, of which 92.6% were diagnosed with ovarian pathology and the presence of a pathological result, while 7.4% of cases were diagnosed with functional ovarian cyst. The prevalence of ovarian malignancy was 15%. A specific ultrasound diagnosis was suggested in 62.9% of all cases, while sonographers did not explicitly provide a diagnosis in remaining cases. A subjective assessment showed 80.3% sensitivity (95% confidence interval (CI) 68.7-89.1) and 97.6% specificity (95% CI 96-98.6) in differentiating between benign and malignant ovarian masses. The sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of endometriotic cyst were 77.03% and 90.63% and 63.19% and 94.3% for mature cystic teratoma, respectively. In conclusion, assessment showed good performance in differentiating between benign and malignant ovarian mass and it was possible to diagnose several specific ovarian tumours. Impact StatementWhat is already known on this subject? Pattern recognition is an acceptable method for classifying ovarian mass, which exhibits specific morphological features on grey-scale ultrasonography, and can be used to predict nature and histological type.What do the results of this study add? Even in the hands of an expert examiner, there were a number of cases in which the diagnoses could not be specifically stated. Pattern recognition correctly classified 90.3% of ovarian masses as either benign or malignant and correctly provided specific histologic diagnoses after exclusion of unspecified diagnosis in 80.6% of all cases. The diagnostic performance of this approach was high in differentiating between benign and malignant ovarian mass and in diagnosing some specific ovarian pathologies.What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? A subjective assessment is simple and easy to use in clinical practice and has shown promising results in classifying benign and malignant ovarian mass. Moreover, it can also be used to make some specific diagnoses. However, specialised and experienced gynaecological ultrasound examiners are required to provide the most accurate diagnosis. Therefore, criteria to describe ultrasound features and convincing operators to make a definite diagnosis as often as possible should be encouraged. A prospective study to verify diagnostic performance of pattern recognition or comparing with other ultrasonographic diagnostic tools should be considered.

Preoperative Evaluation of the ADNEX Model for the Prediction of the Ovarian Cancer Risk of Adnexal Masses at Siriraj Hospital.

INTRODUCTION: Distinguishing benign adnexal masses from malignant tumors plays an important role in preoperative planning and improving patients' survival rates. The International Ovarian Tumor Analysis (IOTA) group developed a model termed the Assessment of Different NEoplasias in the adneXa (ADNEX). OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate the performance of the ADNEX model in distinguishing between benign and malignant tumors at a cutoff value of 10%. METHODS: This was a prospective diagnostic study. 357 patients with an adnexal mass who were scheduled for surgery at Siriraj Hospital were included from May 1, 2018, to May 30, 2019. All patients were undergoing ultrasonography, and serum CA125 was measured. Data were calculated by the ADNEX model via an IOTA ADNEX calculator. RESULTS: Of the 357 patients, 296 had benign tumors and 61 had malignant tumors. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for using the ADNEX model was 0.975 (95% confidence interval, 0.953-0.988). At a 10% cutoff, the sensitivity was 98.4% and specificity was 87.2%. The best cutoff value was at 16.6% in our population. CONCLUSIONS: The performance of the ADNEX model in differentiating benign and malignant tumors was excellent.

Neglected doughnut pessary in the uterine cavity.

Vaginal pessary is a practical and effective tool for pelvic organ prolapse management. Nevertheless, serious complications can occur in neglected patients such as vesicovaginal and rectovaginal fistula, erosion and impaction in adjacent structures. We report a case of neglected pessary found in the uterine cavity. The patient was treated with abdominal hysterectomy with in situ doughnut pessary. Proper pessary care and regular follow-up should be emphasised among patients, caregivers and related healthcare personnel to early detect as well as to avoid complications.

Relationship of degree of uterine prolapse between pelvic examination in lithotomy position with cervical traction and pelvic examination in standing position.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) assessment is a standardized tool for evaluating pelvic organ prolapse (POP). However, intraoperative evaluation reveals greater apical prolapse than do POP-Q scores. There is a need to implement a method for performing POP-Q at the outpatient clinic that reveals maximal prolapse and causes the least pain. This study was performed to compare the degree of uterine prolapse between POP-Q with cervical traction and POP-Q in the standing position. Secondary objectives were to compare pain and acceptability scores between the two examinations. METHODS: Women with uterine prolapse stage I or II by routine examination were invited to participate. Comparison of degree of uterine prolapse, POP-Q stages, acceptability score, and pain score between the two types of examinations were undertaken. RESULTS: Seventy-eight participants were recruited. The median point C in routine POP-Q examination was -5 (-9 to +1), -0.5 (-3 to +4) with cervical traction, and -4 (-7 to +2) in the standing position. When examined with cervical traction, 61.5% women were upstaged by one and 9.0% by two compared with examination in the standing position; 39.7% reported visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores of ≥5 under examination with traction, but only 2.6% reported that level of pain in the standing position. There was no significant difference in acceptability scores between groups. CONCLUSION: In an outpatient clinic setting, POP-Q examination with cervical traction revealed maximal prolapse at an acceptable level of pain. Accordingly, this method is recommended for POP-Q examination.