Impact of osteopathic manipulative therapy on quality of life of patients with deep infiltrating endometriosis with colorectal involvement: results of a pilot study

Abstract

Objective: A prospective pilot study to evaluate the potential role of osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) on quality of life (QOL) of patients with Deep Infiltrating Endometriosis (DIE) and colorectal involvement.

Study design: Twenty patients with DIE and colorectal infiltration completed the SF-36 QOL questionnaire before and after undergoing OMT.

Results: The median age (range) of the patients was 30.4 years (22-39). Thirty-five percent of the patients had undergone previous surgery for endometriosis and 70% were on medical treatment. Fifteen of the 20 patients (75%) completed the protocol. There was no difference in the epidemiological characteristics or in the pre-OMT Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) of the SF-36 questionnaire between patients who completed the protocol or not. After a mean period of 24 days (15-53), a significant improvement in PCS (p=0.03) and MCS (p=0.0009) compared to pre-OMT values was observed giving a success rate of 80% and 60% in intention-to-treat, respectively.

Conclusion: Our results support that OMT can improve QOL of patients with DIE and colorectal involvement. Moreover, this pilot study can serve to determine power calculations for future randomized trials.

Keywords: Colorectal endometriosis; Deep infiltrating endometriosis; Endometriosis; Osteopathic manipulative therapy; Quality of life; SF-36.