Objective: To conduct a literature review of the efficiency of vaginal local estrogenotherapy (LE) on genitourinary disorders related to menopause and those side effects.
Materials: A literature review was conducted using Pubmed database using the keywords vaginal estrogen, urinary incontinence, urgency, urinary tract infection, vulvar and vaginal atrophy, dyspareunia, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, thrombosis. The most relevant articles were selected and analyzed.
Results: The LE demonstrates its efficiency on preventing urinary tract infections, treatment of overactive bladder and vaginal disorders of postmenopausal women in controlled studies or meta-analysis level of evidence 1. Local side effects (discharge, erythema, vaginal bleeding, etc.) are rare. The systemic diffusion of low dose LE is limited and allowed to prescribe it to postmenopausal women without special supervision. However, using LE might be avoided in women with a history of oncological breast due to the lack of controlled studies evaluating the risk of developing breast cancer under LE. Except for high-risk women, LE does not increase the risk of thrombosis.
Conclusion: Vaginal administration of low dose of estrogen is an effective and safe treatment in the management of postmenopausal genitourinary disorders. However, using LE for women with history of breast cancer or high risk of thrombisis should be avoided.
Keywords: Cancer; Dyspareunia; Dyspareunie; Incontinence urinaire; Infection urinaire; Thrombose; Thrombosis; Urinary incontinence; Urinary infection; Vaginal estrogen; Œstrogènes locaux.
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