Cytolytic Vaginosis: a Critical Appraisal of a Controversial Condition
- PDF / 267,886 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 4 Downloads / 220 Views
FEMALE GENITAL TRACT INFECTIONS (J SOBEL, SECTION EDITOR)
Cytolytic Vaginosis: a Critical Appraisal of a Controversial Condition Malia Voytik 1
&
Paul Nyirjesy 2
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose of Review Cytolytic vaginosis is a controversial condition that some clinicians have traditionally included as a potential cause of vulvovaginal symptoms despite the lack of scientific evidence. Recent Findings Recent articles have focused on the evaluation of patients once they carry the diagnosis of cytolytic vaginosis, rather than on diagnostic criteria. Summary Our review revealed inadequate criteria for excluding other causes of vulvovaginal symptoms, especially VVC, when diagnosing women with cytolytic vaginosis. Treatment recommendations have remained stagnant with no single case report or case series with detailed information about affected patients. Finally, with the inconsistencies in sampling sites and inadequacies in sampling techniques across studies, the reported evidence of lactobacilli overgrowth is unreliable and cannot be used to support the diagnosis of cytolytic vaginosis. Any future investigations of the condition would need to have strict criteria for diagnosis which can be reproduced by other investigators, so that common ground for diagnosis can begin as a basis for studies. We further recommend that any study evaluating patient treatments include information about patient demographics, details about their treatment, and the results in terms of changes in symptoms and findings. Keywords Cytolytic vaginosis . Vaginitis . Vaginal discharge
Introduction
Vaginitis
Cytolytic vaginosis (CV) is a controversial condition, described as an overgrowth of lactobacilli and vaginal hyperacidity that some clinicians have traditionally included as a cause of vulvovaginal symptoms. First mentioned in the scientific literature in the early 1990s, CV has gathered little new scientific or clinical evidence since then. Although the condition is occasionally mentioned by patients with vulvovaginal symptoms who have tried to research their problems on their own, the existence of this condition is still debated among experts in the field. The purpose of this article is to provide a critical appraisal of the scientific literature to investigate the trajectory of CV and its place in the future of gynecologic disease.
Vaginitis is the general term for disorders of the vagina caused by infection, inflammation, or changes in normal vaginal flora. Common symptoms related to vaginitis include vaginal discharge or change in discharge, pruritis, burning, irritation, erythema, dyspareunia, and dysuria. Vaginal discharge is one of the most common symptoms associated with vaginitis; since it is a common complaint in women of reproductive age, abnormal discharge may be difficult to distinguish from physiologic discharge [1]. There are many causes of vaginal discharge in women of reproductive age, including infections such as vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), bacterial vaginosis
Data Loading...
