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Randomized trial: treatment of genitourinary syndrome of menopause using radiofrequency
A Joris1, V Di Pietrantonio1, J Praet1
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology CHU St Pierre, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Objective:
A randomized controlled study was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of radiofrequency treatment in postmenopausal women not willing to use or presenting a contraindication for menopause hormone therapy (MHT) and suffering from genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM).
Methods:
A prospective randomized open study evaluated the effect of radiofrequency treatment versus a gel (control group) in postmenopausal women suffering from GSM. Patients were assessed at baseline and after 10-12 weeks of treatment for severity of vulvovaginal atrophy, dyspareunia, pH, vaginal smear maturation index, Vaginal Health Index and Female Sexual Function Index. The difference at baseline and after 10-12 weeks of treatment and the difference in improvement were tested between groups by a two-sample t-test and the Mann-Whitney test.
Results:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were only able to treat 48 patients (24 patients using radiofrequency and 24 patients using a gel). Globally, at the end of the study, there were no differences in changes of the measured outcomes between the group of women treated with radiofrequency and the control group.
Conclusion:
Radiofrequency treatment was found to be safe, but was not superior to a gel, although the study lacked power. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03857893).
