Ni Yihua, Lian Junyu
Department of Gynecology, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350001, P.R. China.
Exp Ther Med. 2023 Nov 13;27(1):10. doi: 10.3892/etm.2023.12297. eCollection 2024 Jan.
Genitourinary symptoms of menopause (GSM) affect ~50% of women after menopause. Recently, CO laser therapy has been used for managing GSM but without high quality evidence. The present review assessed the effectiveness of CO laser therapy in the management of GSM. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CENTRAL and Scopus databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), published up to June 30, 2023, comparing CO laser and sham laser treatments for GSM management. The outcomes of interest included Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), Vaginal Health Index (VHI) and visual analog scale (VAS) for dyspareunia, dryness, burning, itching and dysuria. A total of seven RCTs were included in the review and meta-analysis, with 6/7 studies using three sessions of laser therapy, 4-8 weeks apart. Meta-analysis demonstrated no statistically significant difference in FSFI [mean difference (MD), -1.48; 95% CI, -5.85, 2.89; I=45%] and VHI scores (MD, -0.18; 95% CI, -1.66, 1.31; I =72%) between laser and control groups. Meta-analysis also demonstrated no statistically significant difference in VAS scores for dyspareunia (MD, -1.63; 95% CI; -4.06, 0.80; I=91%), dryness (MD, -1.30; 95% CI, -3.14, 0.53; I=75%), burning (MD, -0.76; 95% CI, -2.03; 0.51 I=56%), itching (MD, -0.28; 95% CI, -0.95, 0.38; I=0%) and dysuria (MD, 0.15; 95% CI, -0.37, 0.67; I=23%) between the groups. The included RCTs had low risk of bias. In conclusion, meta-analyses of high-quality sham-controlled RCTs indicated that CO may not have any beneficial effect on GSM. Limited data and high heterogeneity in meta-analyses in this area of research are important limitations that need to be addressed by future RCTs.
更年期泌尿生殖系统症状(GSM)影响着约50%的绝经后女性。最近,CO激光疗法已被用于治疗GSM,但缺乏高质量证据。本综述评估了CO激光疗法在治疗GSM方面的有效性。检索了PubMed、Embase、Web of Science、CENTRAL和Scopus数据库,以查找截至2023年6月30日发表的比较CO激光和假激光治疗GSM的随机对照试验(RCT)。感兴趣的结果包括女性性功能指数(FSFI)、阴道健康指数(VHI)以及性交困难、干燥、灼烧、瘙痒和排尿困难的视觉模拟量表(VAS)。该综述和荟萃分析共纳入了七项RCT,其中6/7的研究采用了三次激光治疗,每次间隔4 - 8周。荟萃分析表明,激光治疗组和对照组在FSFI[平均差(MD),-1.48;95%置信区间(CI),-5.85,2.89;I² = 45%]和VHI评分(MD,-0.十八;95% CI,-1.66,1.31;I² = 72%)上无统计学显著差异。荟萃分析还表明,两组在性交困难(MD,-1.63;95% CI;-4.06,0.80;I² = 91%)、干燥(MD,-1.30;95% CI,-3.14,0.53;I² = 75%)、灼烧(MD,-0.76;95% CI,-2.03;0.51 I² = 56%)、瘙痒(MD,-0.28;95% CI,-0.95,0.38;I² = 0%)和排尿困难(MD,0.15;95% CI,-0.37,0.67;I² = 23%)的VAS评分上无统计学显著差异。纳入的RCT存在低偏倚风险。总之,高质量假对照RCT的荟萃分析表明,CO激光疗法可能对GSM没有任何有益效果。该研究领域荟萃分析中的数据有限和高度异质性是重要局限性,需要未来的RCT加以解决。