ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Minerva Chirurgica 2012 December;67(6):499-504

Copyright © 2013 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Gluten-free diet: a new strategy for management of painful endometriosis related symptoms?

Marziali M. ¹, Venza M. ², Lazzaro S. ², Lazzaro A. ², Micossi C. ², Stolfi V. M. ² ✉

¹ Department of Gynecology and Obsterics, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy; ² Department of General Surgery, Villa Tiberia Hospital, Rome, Italy

AIM: Pelvic pain affects 4% to 39% of women and accounts for 10-40% of all outpatient gynecologic visits. The etiology of painful endometriosis-related has not been fully delineated. No studies have been published concerning gluten-free diet administered to achieved relief of painful symptoms endometriosis-related. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the effectiveness for the outcomes of endometriosis-related pain and quality of life of gluten-free diet in a follow-up of 12 months in patients with chronic pelvic pain endometriosis-related.
METHODS: Two hundred seven patients with severe painful endometriosis-related symptoms entered the study. At enrolment time, the baseline values of painful symptoms were assessed by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for dysmenorrhoea, non-menstrual pelvic pain, and dyspareunia. According to VAS, pain severity was scored from 0-10; 0 indicating the absence of pain, and 1-4, 5-7 and 8-10 mild, moderate and severe respectively. A gluten-free diet was submitted to all patients and a new evaluation was performed after 12 months of diet. Student t test was used for statistical analysis.
RESULTS: At 12 month follow-up, 156 patients (75%) reported statistically significant change in painful symptoms (P<0.005), 51 patients (25%) reported not improvement of symptoms. No patients reported worsening of pain. A considerable increase of scores for all domains of physical functioning, general health perception, vitality, social functioning, and mental health was observed in all patients (P<0.005).
CONCLUSION: In our experience, painful symptoms of endometriosis decrease after 12 months of gluten free diet.