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Active warming as emergency interventional care for the treatment of pelvic pain
Author(s) -
Bertalanffy P,
Kober A,
Andel H,
Hahn R,
Frickey N,
Hoerauf K
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2006.01030.x
Subject(s) - medicine , nausea , visual analogue scale , heart rate , anxiety , anesthesia , physical therapy , emergency department , pelvic pain , population , blood pressure , surgery , nursing , environmental health , psychiatry
Objective To assess whether local active warming can lessen acute pelvic pain of gynaecological origin compared with traditional methods in a prehospital setting. Design Prospective, randomised, single‐blinded study. Setting Prehospital emergency system. Population Women calling emergency ambulance for pelvic pain. Methods Women were randomised in two groups: resistive heating (group 1) or passive warming (group 2), each treatment was initiated at the emergency site. Main outcome measures Pain on visual analogue scale (VAS), anxiety and nausea, given as mean (SD). Results Prior to the interventions, all women were vasoconstricted and had comparable pain scores. Then, group 1 showed a significant ( P < 0.01) reduction in pain (VAS: 72.2 [10.5] mm to 32.4 [18.0] mm), anxiety (VAS: 59.0 [10.9] mm to 37.5 [24.1] mm), nausea (VAS: 42.7 [6.2] mm to 21.6 [5.0] mm) and heart rate (101 [12] beats per minute [bpm] to 59 [8] bpm), as well as in the number of vasoconstricted women (from 19/19 constricted/dilated to 2/19 constricted/dilated ), whereas scores in group 2 remained unchanged. There were no significant changes in blood pressure in either group. Conclusions Local warming is an effective emergency care measure for acute pelvic pain.