Herbal Treatment of Female Urogenital Atrophy Results of a Retrospective
Cohort Analysis
Abstract
The efficacy and applicability of a phytotherapeutic treatment of female
urogenital atrophy and its sequelae (genital dryness, urinary bladder
problems and painful genital touch) are investigated. The treatment
consists of a compounded preparation delivered as a vag-inal ovulum
(Dioscorea comp. Ovulum). 26 women with urogenital atrophy and / or
symptoms associated with atrophy. One Dioscorea comp. Ovulum à 1g daily
for eight weeks, followed by two Dioscorea comp. Ovula à 3g weekly for
at least 3 months. Vaginal Maturation Index and subjective
atrophy-associated com-plaints are recorded during the initial
examination and at three-month intervals. Retrospective data analysis of
a patient population over a period of 42 months. Initial cohort of 26
patients, 3 drop outs. 19 of the remaining 23 pa-tients with urogenital
atrophy, 4 with symptoms only. The response rate to eutrophic vaginal
epithelium is 84% (16 out of 19). A subjec-tive decrease in symptoms is
achieved by 96% (22 out of 23): genital dryness decreased by 87% (1.80
to 0.25 score points), bladder prob-lems by 69% (2.33 to 0.73 score
points), painful genital touch by 66% (1.64 to 0.55 score points).
Application, tolerability and medical safe-ty are very good. The
phytotherapeutic compounded preparation Dioscorea comp. Ovulum is
suitable for the treatment of urogenital atrophy and its sequelae. After
at least three months, 22 out of 23 of patients experi-ence a marked
reduction in symptoms and 16 out of 19 have eu-trophic vaginal
epithelium. The study was approved by the Ethics Commission of the
Canton of Zurich (BASEC 2016-01982).