High Frequency, High Intensity Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Endometriosis-related Chronic Pain - a Randomized Controlled Trial
The study evaluates the effect of TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) as add-on treatment compared with conventional analgesic treatment in patients with endometriosis-related chronic pain. Patients with frequent pain and high pain intensity will be randomized to additional treatment with TENS or conventional treatment for 8 weeks to evaluate the acute effects of TENS treatment (n=40). Patients with endometriosis-related pain that is not frequent or without high pain intensity constitute an external control group. All patients in the study will receive TENS treatment for a total of 16 weeks, for evaluation of long-term effects of TENS treatment.
• Age ≥18 years
• Consents to participation in the study
• Verified endometriosis (by laparoscopy or ultrasound).
• Chronic endometriosis-related pain (\> 3 months), available for TENS treatment
• Functioning, stable endometriosis-specific hormonal drug therapy. The endometriosis-specific drug therapy must be unchanged for the last 3 months and no gynecological surgical procedures for the treatment of endometriosis are planned during the next 7 months (during study participation). The endometriosis-specific drug therapy does not refer to analgesic therapy for symptom relief of endometriosis-related pain.