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Publicatie

Assessing Severity of Pain in Women with Focal Provoked Vulvodynia Are von Frey Filaments Suitable Devices?

Tijdschriftbijdrage - Tijdschriftartikel

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether von Frey filaments are effective in the standardized assessment of the severity of focal provoked vulvodynia (FPV) syndrome. STUDY DESIGN: The data of 30 women with FPV attending monthly at our vulvovaginal disease clinic, for a collective total of 141 visits over 6 months, were analyzed. At each visit sensitivity tests at the vulvar vestibule were performed at the 5 and 7 o'clock area, totaling 282 measurements. A questionnaire, blinded to the examining physician, and a visual analogue score (VAS) of pain ranging from 1 (no pain) to 10 (maximal pain) was obtained of the discomfort felt when attempting sexual intercourse. RESULTS: The VAS, the investigator assessment of redness, and the 1 to 10 score result of the cotton swab touch test at 5 and 7 o'clock were superior diagnostic tools for assessing the severity of the pain when compared to the use of von Frey filaments. CONCLUSION: Although elegant because of the promise of objective, semiquantitative measurements, von Frey filaments are less suitable devices to assess severity of disease and response to treatment than are cotton swab 1 to 10 pain scores and clinical parameters like subjective pain (VAS) and objective focal redness.
Tijdschrift: Journal of Reproductive Medicine
ISSN: 0024-7758
Issue: 3-4
Volume: 59
Pagina's: 134 - 138
Jaar van publicatie:2014
BOF-keylabel:ja
IOF-keylabel:ja
BOF-publication weight:0.1
CSS-citation score:1
Authors from:Hospital, Higher Education