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Pain Relief During Unsedated Office Hysteroscopy by Applying TENS

Pain Relief During Unsedated Office Hysteroscopy by Applying Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS): A Randomized Double-blind Placebo-controlled Trial

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02647008
Enrollment
138
Registered
2016-01-06
Start date
2016-02-29
Completion date
2016-09-30
Last updated
2016-09-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Uterus Dysfunction

Keywords

outpatient hysteroscopy, TENS

Brief summary

Aim: To compare the pain-relieving effect of a specific application of TENS vs. placebo TENS and a control group during unsedated diagnostic office hysteroscopy. Design: double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. Setting: Outpatient setting. Population: Women who attended annual gynecological check up, and were indicated for diagnostic office hysteroscopy.

Detailed description

Nowadays, diagnostic hysteroscopy is an easy and economically acceptable technique, that is being used by the gynecologist to evaluate different pathologies that used to be studied by other blind techniques. Although most women tolerate it well, the most common cause for failure during office hysteroscopy is pain. In order to overcome this adversity several studies have been carried out using different types of pain relievers as local anesthesia, misoprostol, music, and NSAID to prevent the occurrence of a vagal reaction, but the results have been contradictory. Other analgesic alternatives that prioritize these three points should be considered. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has become a very common electrotherapy as a pain-reliever because of its attributes, namely a noninvasive and non-pharmacological method based on the delivery of pulsed electrical currents through the skin, using surface electrodes, effective in many variety of conditions, such as neuropathic pain, musculoskeletal pain, headache, gynecological and obstetric pain, to treat both chronic and acute pain, even from visceral organs. Aim: to compare the pain-relieving effect of a specific application of TENS vs. placebo TENS and a control group during unsedated diagnostic office hysteroscopy. Design: double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. Setting: Outpatient setting; Hospital Provincial de Castellon (Spain) and Hospital General de Castellon (Spain). Population: Women who attended annual gynecological check up, and were indicated for diagnostic office hysteroscopy

Interventions

DEVICETENS

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a nonpharmacological intervention that activates a complex neuronal network to reduce pain by activating descending inhibitory systems in the central nervous system to reduce hyperalgesia.These small battery powered devices deliver alternating current via cutaneous electrodes positioned near the painful area.

Sponsors

Cardenal Herrera University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

women who attended annual gynecological check up, and were indicated for diagnostic office hysteroscopy because of different pathologies such as: * postmenopausal endometrial thickening \>4mm; * postmenopausal abnormal uterine bleeding; * suspicious endometrial polyp or leiomyoma; * infertility study; * suspicious endometrial carcinoma; * hypermenorrhea

Exclusion criteria

* age less than 18; * previous cervical surgery; * neurological deficit; * chronic or preprocedural use of opioids or psychoactive drugs; * previous experience in TENS; * cutaneous damage on the application sites; * pacemakers or automatic implanted cardiac defibrillators; * refusal to sign the informed consent form; * inability to understand informed consent form.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
Pain, assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS)5 minutes after hysteroscopy

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
Pain assessed by Likert scale.5 minutes after hysteroscopy

Other

MeasureTime frame
Total procedure time5 minutes after hysteroscopy
Heart Rate5 minutes after hysteroscopy
Blood Pleasure5 minutes after hysteroscopy

Countries

Spain

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 27, 2026