O uso de dilatadores na estenose vaginal pós braquiterapia: revisão integrativa

Abstract

Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the neoplasms with the highest incidence and highest mortality rates among women. Brachytherapy used in the treatment of cancer in the pelvic floor and/or uterus can lead to vaginal stenosis. Vaginal stenosis is a partial or total narrowing of the vaginal lumen and shortening of structures, induced by radiation that can affect the mucosa, connective tissues and blood vessels. Objective: to verify the effects of vaginal dilators on vaginal stenosis after cervical cancer treatment. Methods: This is an integrative literature review. The search was performed in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), the United States National Library of Medicine (PubMED), , the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) and the National Cancer Institute (INCA). The analysis of these publications made it possible to identify the following data: country of study, year, language of publication, authors, type of study, objectives, methodology and main results of each one. Results: 12 articles were identified and all report the improvement in vaginal symptoms and changes in women's sexual life before and during and after the use of vaginal dilators, however, it was found that the use of dilators cannot prevent vaginal stenosis, but it has positive effect for not aggravating it. Conclusion: There is still a lack of research describing the prevention and/or treatment of vaginal stenosis after cervical cancer. There is not enough scientific evidence to systematically portray the use of vaginal dilators to improve the degree of post-brachytherapy vaginal stenosis.