Electrical stimulation of the pelvic floor in the treatment of women with chronic vulvar pain

• Grant number: 09/01859-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2009
• End date: July 31, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Paulo César Giraldo
• Grantee: Paulo César Giraldo
• Host Institution: Centro de Atenção Integral à Saúde da Mulher (CAISM). Hospital da Mulher Professor Doutor José Aristodemo Pinotti. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

There is a great number of women bearing vulvar pain and the vulvodynia (VVD) is one of the main causes for it. It is believed that approximately 16% of women, between 18 and 64 years old, are going to present this disease and, in the majority of cases, there is influence of the pelvic floor musculature, presenting difficulty in muscular relaxation. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of the electrical stimulation with interferential current in the treatment of women with chronic vulvar pain. Subjects and Methods: Sixty-four women bearing chronic vulvar pain for, at least, 6 months will be enrolled in a randomized, single-blind study. The volunteers will be attended in the Ambulatory of Genital Infections of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, at University of Campinas, and randomly single-blinded distributed for treatment in a group of pelvic floor electrical stimulation with interferential current (Endophasys NMS-0501 - KLD equipement, Biosistemas Equipamentos Eletrônicos Ltda.) and in a control group (without electrical stimulation). Covariance analysis of the data from the beginning and end of the experiment will be used to evaluate the effect of the intervention on the pelvic floor musculature performance, on the pain intensity and on the sexual life quality. The significance level to be considered will be 5% and the software SAS will be used for the statistical analysis. (AU)