the effect of a new vaginal cream (a persian medicine product) on subjective symptoms of vulvovaginal atrophy in breast cancer survivors

Background: vulvovaginal atrophy (vva) usually occurs during and after menopause due to low estrogen levels and can cause frustrating symptoms. existing treatments such as estrogen compounds have undesired side effects. objectives: this study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a chicken tallow product for vaginal use on subjective symptoms of vva in women with breast cancer. methods: menopause induced by chemical drugs with subjective symptoms of vva were selected from the oncology-radiotherapy clinic of shohadaye tajrish hospital between march and july 2020. informed consent was obtained. patients were instructed to apply 5g cream every other night before bedtime for 2 weeks, and 2 nights a week for the next 2 weeks and stop themedication. patients were assessed at the time of initiation of medication, and 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after initiation of the trial, and vva subjective symptoms were assessed. vva subjective symptom score (vva-sss) form was used to assess itching, burning, dryness, and dyspareunia, using a 5-point likert scale. data were, then, analyzed. results: fifty women were included in the study (age above 18 years). all 5 monitored indices (itching, burning, dryness, dyspareunia, and vva subjective symptoms score) diminished after initiation of intervention and reached a minimum level after 4 weeks of intervention (1.10 ± 1.16 baseline to 0.04 ± 0.20 at 4 weeks for itching, 1.42 ± 1.09 to 0.04 ± 0.20 for burning, 2.68 ± 0.91 to 0.30 ± 0.54 for dryness, 2.96± 0.88 to 0.50 ± 0.61 for dyspareunia, and 8.12 ± 2.70 to 0.86 ± 1.07 for vva-sss). during the 4 weeks following discontinuation of treatment, the symptoms slightly increased but remained significantly lower than the baseline (p-value < 0.001 for all 5 indices at all monitored time points). conclusions: the proposed treatment, rooted in persian traditional medicine, may offer a safe and effective treatment for vva symptoms in bcs.