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Women might be able to reduce the harshness of hot flashes up to 50 percent having a quick injection to the neck of local anesthesia, based on new research from Northwestern University.
“We believe we are resetting the thermostat in females who’re experiencing moderate to very severe menopausal flashes without using hormonal therapies,” said David Walega, MD, chief from the Division of Pain Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg Med school.
The study included 40 women between the ages of 35 and 65 years old. All of the participants were experiencing either natural or induced menopause, and suffered debilitating hot flashes with more severe symptoms compared to typical hot flash.
“Many of the women in our study experienced repeated drenching sweats that lessen the capability to go about a day-to-day routine, including interfering with their professional lives,” said Walega.”We wanted to find out if this injection could provide relief of symptoms without hormones, as hormone therapy has been associated with an increased risk of cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease, and there are few other viable treatments available right now.”
To administer the treatment, Walega used low dose X-ray to steer an injection of bupivacaine hydrochloride, a commonly used local anesthetic, into a nerve bundle known as the stellate ganglion found in the neck near the voice box.
The 30-second procedure should be conducted with a trained physician since the injection is within close proximity to important structures such as the carotid artery, the vertebral artery and the spinal nerves. Injecting any of those areas could cause a seizure, loss of awareness or any other complications.
The idea for this treatment originated from a problem study published in 2007 within the medical journal The Lancet, by which stellate ganglion injections were performed so that they can alleviate pain. The researchers found that in some cases menopausal flashes had entirely dissipated after the injection, separate from pain relief. This led Walega and his team to ponder whether this can be a secure, efficient way of treating menopausal flashes related to menopause.
In the current study, patients tracked their hot flashes for 2 weeks before and six months following the injection. Half the audience received the anesthetic, while the other were injected having a placebo of saline, or salt-water. Those who received the anesthetic medication reported a discount of menopausal flashes up to one-half, with the benefits lasting 6 months.
The researchers are actually planning for a larger study to further investigate shot’s effectiveness. Walega presented the results from the initial attend a recent American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting.
