Schlaeger Judith M, Cai Hui Yan, Nenggui Xu, Steffens Alana D, Lin Wang, Wilkie Diana J
1 Department of Women, Children and Family Health Science, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing , Chicago, IL.
2 Department of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, National University of Health Sciences , Lombard, IL.
J Altern Complement Med. 2017 May;23(5):380-384. doi: 10.1089/acm.2015.0353. Epub 2017 Mar 15.
Vulvodynia affects a maximum of 14 million U.S. women; however, it has not been adequately characterized. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers pattern diagnoses that may be considered vulvodynia phenotypes and may guide the development of more targeted treatments.
In women with vulvodynia, to explore relationships between the TCM patterns and pain.
DESIGN/METHODS: In an exploratory study, 36 women diagnosed with vulvodynia had a TCM assessment and completed the Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ).
All 36 women were diagnosed with one of the two TCM patterns (excess heat [n = 28] or excess cold [n = 8]). Although not statistically significant, (1) the excess heat pattern group had a higher mean sensory score (14.4 ± 6.0) and mean affective pain score (4.1 ± 2.8) (more pain) compared with the mean sensory score (13.3 ± 5.9) and mean affective score (3.3 ± 1.8) of the excess cold pattern group; (2) there was a higher mean score for neuropathic sensory descriptors in the excess heat pattern group (1.55 ± .58) compared with the excess cold pattern group (1.16 ± 0.72); and (3) there was a higher mean score for nociceptive sensory descriptors in the excess cold pattern group (1.23 ± 0.45) compared with the excess heat pattern group (1.14 ± 0.62). The difference in the hot-burning mean score between the two TCM pattern groups was statistically significant (t [34] = 6.55, p < 0.0001).
Intriguing trends were observed in the pain scores for the two TCM pattern groups. The possibility that TCM pattern groups have different types of pain (neuropathic vs. nociceptive) deserves further research in larger samples. If these exploratory findings are confirmed, the characterization of TCM patterns could lead to new treatments for vulvodynia.
