[Genitourinary menopause syndrome. Postmenopausal women management: CNGOF and GEMVi clinical practice guidelines].

INTRODUCTION

Genitourinary menopause syndrome (SGUM) is defined as a set of symptoms associated with a decrease of estrogen and other sexual steroids during menopause. The main symptoms are vulvovaginal (dryness, burning, itching), sexual (dyspareunia), and urinary (urinary infections, pollakiuria, nycturia, pain, urinary incontinence by urgenturia). SGUM leads to an alteration of the quality of life, and affects especially women's sexuality.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this review was to elaborate guidelines for clinical practice regarding the management of SGUM in postmenopausal women, and in particular, in women with a history of breast cancer, treated or not with hormone therapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A systematic review of the literature on SGUM management was conducted on Pubmed, Medline and Cochrane Library. Recommendations from international scholarly societies were also taken into account: International Menopause Society (IMS) https://www.imsociety.org, The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) https://www.menopause.org, Canadian Menopause Society https://www.sigmamenopause.com, European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) https://www.emas-online.org, International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH) https://www.isswsh.org.

RESULTS

Vaginal use of lubricants, moisturizers and hyaluronic acid improves the symptoms of SGUM and may be offered to all patients. For postmenopausal women, local estrogen will be preferred to the oral route because of their safety and efficacy on all symptoms of SGUM during low-dose use. Prasterone is a local treatment that can be proposed as an effective alternative for the management of dyspareunia and sexual function disorder. Current data on oral testosterone, tibolone, oral or transdermal DHEA and herbal medicine are currently limited. Ospemifène, which has shown a significant improvement in sexual symptoms, is not currently marketed in France. In the particular case of women with a history of breast cancer, non-hormonal regimens are a first-line therapy. Current data on the risk of breast cancer recurrence when administering low-dose local estrogen are reassuring but do not support a conclusion that this treatment is safe.

CONCLUSION

SGUM is a common symptom that can affect the quality of life of postmenopausal women. A treatment should be systematically proposed. Local non-hormonal treatment may be offered in all women. Local low-dose estrogen therapy and Prasterone has shown an interest in the management of symptoms. In women before a history of breast cancer, local non-hormonal treatment should be offered first-line. The safety of low-dose local estrogen therapy and Prasterone cannot be established at this time. Other alternatives exist but are not currently recommended in France due to lack of data.