Feasibility of Multimodal Energy-Based Therapy for Pelvic Floor Disorders
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
- The Urinary Distress Inventory-6 (UDI-6) is a validated six-item questionnaire that assesses lower urinary tract symptoms, including incontinence.
- The Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory-6 (POPDI-6), a sub-scale of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20), is a six-item composite score that measures prolapse-specific symptoms.
- The Female Sexual Functioning Index FSFI-6 is used to evaluate female sexual response across six domains: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. The FSFI is a versatile self-report tool that measures the dimensions of female sexual function and consists of 19 questions divided into six domains: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain [17].
- The Marinoff Scale estimates the subjective pain intensity and grades the severity of dyspareunia on a visual analog scale (VAS).
- The 0–100 VAS measures the extent to which the intensity of vulvar pain affects patients’ lives (i.e., “I can’t wear tight-fitting clothing”, “Gets worse when I walk or when I sit”, “I cannot use tampons at all”). The higher the score, the greater the functional limitation. This assessment is conducted for symptoms such as dyspareunia, dryness, irritation/burning, itching, and cytorrhagia.
- The vaginal Health Index score (VHI) encompasses a clinical assessment conducted by a qualified healthcare professional via a speculum examination allowing for the diagnosis of vulvovaginal-atrophy (VVA) after covering five parameters: elasticity, pH, mucosal appearance, moisture, and the presence of vaginal secretion, thereby quantifying the degree of VVA.
- Overall improvement was measured through the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I). Subjective improvement is indicated both by “very much improved or much improved” (PGI-I ≤ 2) while non-improvement is indicated both by “minimally improved” or “not improved”.
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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| P PFD | No. (%) | Mean Age | Treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dyspareunia | 10 (38.5%) | 41.8 | EVA |
| SUI | 9 (34.6%) | 49.2 | 2 EVA, 7 DAFNE |
| Mild pelvic organ prolapse | 6 (23.1%) | 55 | DAFNE |
| GSM | 5 (19.2%) | 42.5 | EVA |
| Voiding dysfunction | 4 (15.4%) | 56 | DAFNE |
| OBS | 2 (7.7%) | 58.8 | DAFNE |
| Baseline | Post-Treatment | p-Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UDI-6 | 22.0 ± 8.0 | 6.6 ± 5.7 | <0.001 |
| POPDI-6 | 13.0 ± 12.8 | 5.1 ± 9.4 | 0.015 |
| FSFI-6 | 6.6 ± 7.8 | 12.9 ± 9.2 | 0.010 |
| Marinoff Scale | 1.2 ± 1.4 | 0.4 ± 0.7 | 0.009 |
| 0–100 VAS | 72.3 ± 16.3 | 31.5 ± 21.1 | <0.001 |
| VHI | 16.4 ± 5.3 | 17.8 ± 5.3 | 0.339 |
| PGI-I | n/a | 2.1 ± 1.0 | n/a |
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Baruch, Y.; Costa, C.; Barba, M.; Cola, A.; Frigerio, M. Feasibility of Multimodal Energy-Based Therapy for Pelvic Floor Disorders. Medicina 2025, 61, 2078. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina61122078
Baruch Y, Costa C, Barba M, Cola A, Frigerio M. Feasibility of Multimodal Energy-Based Therapy for Pelvic Floor Disorders. Medicina. 2025; 61(12):2078. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina61122078
Chicago/Turabian StyleBaruch, Yoav, Clarissa Costa, Marta Barba, Alice Cola, and Matteo Frigerio. 2025. "Feasibility of Multimodal Energy-Based Therapy for Pelvic Floor Disorders" Medicina 61, no. 12: 2078. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina61122078
APA StyleBaruch, Y., Costa, C., Barba, M., Cola, A., & Frigerio, M. (2025). Feasibility of Multimodal Energy-Based Therapy for Pelvic Floor Disorders. Medicina, 61(12), 2078. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina61122078

