TRANSCUTANEOUS ELECTRICAL NERVE STIMULATION ON PRIMAR DYSMENORRHEA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Purpose: Analyze TENS effect as a treatment for primary dysmenorrhea. Methods: This is a systematic review. The articles were searched in Medline and Cochrane Library (1990 to 2009) using the following criteria: women with a diagnosis of primary dysmenorrhea without any association with pelvic disease, 2) aged between onset menstruation and 35 years old, 3) English and Portuguese languages, 4) trials that aimed to examine the effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea; 5) controlled or not clinical trials. Data analyses were made by a comparative table with the results found in the trials. Results: Of the 57 articles identified initially the study included six trials. They were
excluded because of: the title, year of publication, for been a review or for not having the inclusion criteria. The trials showed pain relief using TENS and all of them used the sensitive threshold as the guide for the current intensity, however there is no standardization for the following parameters: application site (low back, gluteus, suprapubic, parassacral, T10-11, site of greatest pain), pulse width (2 ?s a 200 ?s), frequency (100 a 120Hz), duration (20 minutes to eight consecutive hours) and number of sessions (one until four menstrual cycles). Conclusion: The study revealed that high frequency transcutaneous electrical stimulation promotes good clinical outcomes in primary dysmenorrhea, despite the wide variation found in the ways of technique application.