saeideh shams zamenjani

Shoulder pain following gynecological laparoscopy is a common complication that requires treatment.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of manual maneuvers on shoulder pain following laparoscopic surgery in women.

This parallel clinical trial was conducted with 77 female laparoscopy candidates referred to Yas Hospital in Tehran in 2023. After the laparoscopic procedure, the intervention group had CO 2 gas actively removed from the abdomen during a two-handed abdominal massage, while the control group received only traditional passive gas evacuation. The intensity of pain was assessed 6- and 24-hours post-operation using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and the number of painkillers and anti-nausea medications used was recorded in each patient's chart. All data were entered into SPSS software and analyzed using appropriate statistical tests.

The average age of the women was 39.4 ± 10.1 years, and the average body mass index (BMI) was 27.5 ± 2.5 kg/m². No significant difference was observed between the two groups in these characteristics. Six hours after the operation, the pain intensity was 4.6 ± 0.86 in the intervention group and 6.2 ± 1.1 in the control group, with a significant reduction in the intervention group (P = 0.001). Twenty-four hours post-operation, pain intensity was 2.7 ± 0.79 in the intervention group and 4.2 ± 1.1 in the control group, again showing a significant decrease in the intervention group (P = 0.001). Additionally, the need for analgesics was significantly lower in the intervention group (P = 0.001).

The results of this study indicate that manual abdominal massage following laparoscopic surgery can significantly reduce shoulder pain, decrease the need for analgesics, and enhance patient satisfaction.

COVID-19 can have potential pathogenic effects on the oocyte and embryos, but there is limited data about its impact. This study aimed to investigate the COVID-19 impact on the outcome of Assisted Reproduction Techniques (ART) methods.

This case-control study was conducted on 190 infertile women who underwent oocyte retrieval at Yas Hospital in vitro fertilization (IVF) department affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences, from October 2021 to October 2022. The case group was defined as women whose PCR test was positive on puncture day and the control group was women with COVID-19 negative tests on puncture day. The study outcome measurements included the number of oocytes retrieved and the number and quality of embryos. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS 24.

The mean age of the participants was 32.89 ± 5.58 years with an age range of 18-49 years. No significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding baseline variables.  The mean number of oocytes was significantly (p =0.001) lower in the case (6.68±4.25) group versus the control (9.07±4.10) group. While there was no statistically significant difference regarding the mean number of embryos in the study groups, No grade A embryos were observed in more than half (57.5%) of the women in the case group. Furthermore, the frequency of grade C embryos on average was 1.08±1.11 in the case group and 0.57±0.75 in the control group, with a statistically significant difference (p =0.010).

The findings of this research highlighted that women infected with COVID-19 on the puncture day have a lower number of oocytes and also good-quality embryos.