Clinical Evaluation of Pentovis in the Treatment of Senile Vaginitis

SENILE vaginitis is a distressing condition frequently encountered in gynxcological practice. It is an atrophy of the vaginal mucosa occurring usually at the time of the menopause. The thin mucosa becomes very prone to infection and often small superficial areas of granulation or ulceration develop. The common symptoms complained of are vulval pruritis, burning, and soreness. Also a rather thin discharge may be noticed and this can be bloodstained. In the later stages contraction of the vaginal lumen occurs with dyspareunia or complete inability to carry on marital relations. In the treatment of this condition the common practice has been the use of hormone preparations applied locally or used parenterally. These have given equivocal results. There is, of course, no doubt that definite epithelial proliferation does occur in the senile vagina following this type of therapy. However, many women with senile vaginitis find the insertion of a medicated pessary difficult and painful and treatment is abandoned. As the evaluation of all new medications for the treatment of senile vaginitis is important a clinical investigation was carried out, using the cyclopentyl enol ether of oestriol (Pentovis) orally. For this study all patients who complained of symptoms suggesting a senile vaginitis were examined gynaecologically and those with other pathological conditions excluded from the series. No special investigations were carried out and the conclusions arrived at are therefore purely clinical.