Superior hypogastric plexus block as an effective treatment method for endometriosis-related chronic pelvic pain: an open-label pilot clinical trial

Sepideh Khodaverdi, Mahmoud Reza Alebouyeh, Kambiz Sadegi, Abolfazl Mehdizadehkashi, Mania Kaveh, Saeid Reza Entezari, Hossein Mirzaei, Mojdeh Khaledi, Maryam Khodaverdi
Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology : the journal of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology · 2020 · vol. 41(6) , pp. 966–971 · doi:10.1080/01443615.2020.1820468 · PMID:33243036 · W3109263420
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This open-label pilot trial found that superior hypogastric plexus block significantly reduced chronic pelvic pain and improved quality of life in patients with refractory endometriosis without serious adverse effects.

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Abstract

We aimed to investigate the effect of superior hypogastric plexus (SHP) block on pain relief and quality of life of patients with refractory endometriosis. Sixteen patients with refractory endometriosis underwent SHP block. The outcome measures included visual analogue scale (VAS) for chronic pelvic pain, VAS for dysmenorrhoea, and VAS for dyspareunia. The short-form endometriosis health profile (EHP-5) was used to measure quality of life. All the outcome measures were evaluated at weeks 0, 1, 4, 12 and 24. The mean baseline VAS scores significantly improved after the SHP block (p < .001 for all). The mean overall EHP-5 score also significantly improved from 54.3 ± 18.2 to 24.6 ± 13.3 (p < .001). The positive effects of SHP were not diminished over time. No serious adverse effect was noticed in any of the patients. Preliminary results suggest that SHP block could be used as an effective method in pain control and improvement of quality of life in refractory endometriosis.IMPACT STATEMENTWhat is already known on this subject? Safety and efficacy of SHP block in the treatment of CPP has been revealed in earlier investigations. However, the efficacy of SHP block for pain management in patients with refractory endometriosis has not been investigated in earlier investigations.What do the results of this study add? SHP block is an effective method for pain control and improvement of quality of life in patients with refractory endometriosis. The positive effects of this treatment did not diminish over 24-weeks follow-up of the study. No serious adverse effect was noticed in any of the patients.What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Preliminary results suggest that SHP block could be used safely and effectively for controlling pain and improvement of quality of life in patients with refractory endometriosis.

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Outcome instruments

EHP-30 VAS-pain

Condition tags

mesh:D004412mesh:D004414mesh:D004715mesh:D017699endometriosischronic_pelvic_paindysmenorrheadyspareunia

MeSH descriptors

Chronic Pain Endometriosis Nerve Block Pain Management Pelvic Pain Adult Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Endometriosis Female Humans Hypogastric Plexus Nerve Block Pain Management Pain Measurement Pelvic Pain

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (31)

Cited by (12)

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