Addressing vulvodynia in a chronic pelvic pain unit, does it make any difference?

BACKGROUND: Vulvodynia is a chronic painful entity that poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. The aim of this work was to describe the characteristics of women affected by vulvodynia and to estimate the effectiveness of currently available therapeutic options. METHODS: A retrospective observational study has been carried out with a sample of 50 women who presented vulvodynia at a chronic pelvic pain unit between 2019 and 2021. RESULTS: The mean age at diagnosis was 38.44 years. Mean delay to diagnosis was 29.82 months. According to the classification currently used, vulvodynia was mainly localized, provoked, intermittent, and immediate. Most of the women also reported dyspareunia with mean baseline pain and dyspareunia according to the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of 4 and 8, respectively. Among the therapeutic options used, neuromodulatory drugs have shown to be effective in symptom control and improving quality of life both at 6 and 12 months. At 24 months improvement in dyspareunia was not statistically significant, probably due to the small sample size due to losses in the follow-up. Non-pharmacological treatments such as physical therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy may also play a role in symptom improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the available evidence is based on retrospective studies. Quality randomized clinical trials are necessary to better test the efficacy of treatments, especially neuromodulatory drugs.

Psoas haematoma as a complication of Veress needle insertion: description of a case and literature review.

BACKGROUND: In terms of gynaecological laparoscopic surgery, major complications affecting great vessels, and especially the retroperitoneal ones, are unusual. CASE PRESENTATION: We introduce a case of a retroperitoneal haematoma associated with psoas muscle pseudoaneurysm, as a side effect of Veress needle insertion, during laparoscopic surgery. Such complication was managed conservatively at first, requiring finally arterial embolisation. CONCLUSION: Even though potential complications associated with laparoscopic surgery are infrequent, they must not be underestimated, and in some cases might need a multidisciplinary management.

Natural history of histologically moderate cervical dysplasia in adolescent and young women.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent women are a special age group affected by human papilloma virus (HPV). Most guidelines recommend surgical treatment for high-grade cytological lesions. However, some reports have attempted to demonstrate that the immune system is fully capable of clearing the virus without using conization. Our aim in this study was to describe the outcome of women <25 years old with high-grade cytology pap smears and no histologically confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasm [CIN] III. METHODS: This prospective cohort study, carried out at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital 12 de Octubre, included 29 women aged 25 years or younger with high-grade cytological lesions recruited in screening programs and were followed up at 15 months. This study describes the clinical course of the women, and we determined the percentage of cytological, histological, and microbiological lesions produced by HPV that were cleared without surgical treatment in these women during their follow-up. RESULTS: During follow-up, 63% of high-grade cytological lesions and all high-grade histological lesions were cleared. HPV was eliminated from 23% of patients with one HPV serotype and 27% with multiple HPV serotypes without any treatment. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that there is no need to use surgical treatment to clear high-grade cytological and cervical lesions in adolescent women, thus preventing damage to their reproductive future.