All women from the outpatient department with a history of BC and GSM (genitourinary symptoms of menopause) symptoms will be invited to participate. After informed consent patients are either randomized to intravaginal laser or hyaluronic acid suppository treatment intravaginally, respectively. Laser treatment will be performed twice, at baseline and after 1 month. The intravaginal hyaluronic acid suppository therapy will be applied daily during the first 10 days and then every third day until the three months follow-up. At baseline and three months follow-up the following questionnaires will be filled out (VAS, (PGI-I, PGI-S, Female Sexual health questionnaire (EORTC), Baessler questionnaire, EORTC quality of life questionnaire, ZUF-8).
Device I- Laser The laser device is the Juliet feminine laser to treat women with SUI (Stress Urinary Incontinence), GSM and vaginal laxity. Asclepion' s headquarters are located in "Asclepion Laser Technologies GmbH - Brüsseler Str. 10 - 07747 Jena - Germany". Device II- Suppository The second device is a vaginal suppository called "Cikatridina" manufactured by the company Angelini to treat women with GSM. Angelini Pharma Österreich GmbH's headquarters are located in Brigittenauer Lände 50-54, 1200 Wien, Austria.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
50
Women are asked to insert the suppositories according to the manufacturer's protocol.
Women will receive the laser treatment twice during the study period.
Department of Obstetrics, Medical University Graz
Graz, Austria
RECRUITINGgenitorurinary symptoms of menopause (GSM) determined by vaginal health index score
Vaginal Health Score Index (VHIS) evaluates the appearance of the vaginal mucosa (elasticity, pH, vaginal discharge, mucosal integrity and moisture) on a scale from 1 to 5 each. The lower the score the worse the symptom.
Time frame: 3 months
Symptoms severity- visual analogue scale
A visual analogue scale (VAS) is used for assessment for the subjective bother of GSM. The lower the score the less bothering are the symptoms.
Time frame: 3 months
Treatment discomfort / pain; assessed by visual analogue scale
At the end of each laser treatment session or at 3 months for the vaginal suppository group patients are asked to indicate the degree of discomfort or pain during laser therapy/vaginal insertion of the suppositories on a scale ranging from 0 (no discomfort/pain) to 10 (worst possible discomfort/pain)
Time frame: 3 months
Patient Global Impression of Improvement
The Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) are robust and valid instruments to assess disease severity, bother and improvement after treatment in women. It ranges from very much improved to a lot worse on 7 likert scale.
Time frame: 3 months
Patient Global Impression of Severity
The Patient Global Impression of Severity (PGI-S) is a global index that may be used to rate the severity of a specific condition (a single-state scale). The PGI scales are robust and valid instruments to assess disease severity, bother and improvement after treatment. The patient can choose from 4 answers including none, mild, moderate and severe.
Time frame: 3 months
Female Sexual health
The Female Sexual health is assessed with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) sexual health questionnaire and is a validated questionnaire which assesses physical, psychological, and social aspects of sexuality of cancer survivors. It is a 22 item questionnaire.The higher the score the better is the sexual function.
Time frame: 3 months
pelvic floor symptoms
A validated self-administered pelvic floor questionnaire (Baessler) will be used to assess urogentinal symptoms. Questions regarding bladder (15), bowel (12), and sexual function (10), and pelvic organ prolapse symptoms (five) are grouped according to the physiological functions of the pelvic floor: bladder function, bowel function, prolapse symptoms, and sexual function domains. Quality of life measures and bothersomeness ratings were integrated into the four domains. Frequency, severity, and bothersomeness of pelvic floor symptoms are assessed using a four-point scoring system for most items in the questionnaire, apart from defecation frequency, bowel consistency, sufficient lubrication, and the reason for sexual abstinence. The lower the score the less pelvic floor symptoms the patients have.
Time frame: 3 months
Patient satisfaction with treatment/ inpatient management
"Fragebogen zur Patientenzufriedenheit - ZUF8". The questionnaire, the German version of the original "Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-CSQ8", is a validated tool for measuring global patient satisfaction at the end of inpatient treatment. The Zuf-8 is an 8-items questionnaire to assess satisfaction in patients undergoing inpatient treatment. At 3 months treatment satisfaction will be assessed using an adopted version of the questionnaire. The lower the score the higher is the patient satiscation.
Time frame: 3 months
Discontinuation rate
Number of patients who discontinue treatment
Time frame: 3 months
Dyspareunia rate
evaluated by a single item of the Baessler questionnaire. The rate will be given in number and percent.
Time frame: 3 months
Quality of life: EORTC quality of life questionnaire
Determined by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life questionnaire. The questionnaire is a 47 item questionnaire and assess quality of life. The lower the score the better the quality of life.
Time frame: 3 months
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