Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35796787›Full record

SynthesisInternational urogynecology journal2022

A systematic review of diagnostic tests to detect pelvic floor myofascial pain.

Supuni C Kapurubandara, Basia Lowes, Ursula M Sansom-Daly, Rebecca Deans, Jason A Abbott

Registry-linked trialOpen access · hybridAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in International urogynecology journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07605598 (Quantitative Assessment of Pelvic Floor Muscle Fitness in Myofascial Pelvic Pain Before and After Myofascially-Directed Therapies), which is not on this map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07605598 nanot yet recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

Quantitative Assessment of Pelvic Floor Muscle Fitness in Myofascial Pelvic Pain Before and After Myofascially-Directed Therapies

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of California, Los AngelesRan2026 to 2029Enrolled120ConditionsMyofacial Pain, Pelvic Pain, Myofascial Pelvic Pain, Chronic Pelvic PainArmsNear Infrared Imaging
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

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  7. Observational
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Supuni C KapurubandaraSchool of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Level 1, Royal Hospital for Women, Barker Street, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, 2031, Australia. s.kapurubandara@unsw.edu.au.ORCID 0000-0001-8259-9405
Basia LowesSydney West Advanced Pelvic Surgical Unit, SWAPS, Sydney, Australia.
Ursula M Sansom-DalySchool of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Level 1, Royal Hospital for Women, Barker Street, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, 2031, Australia.
Rebecca DeansSchool of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Level 1, Royal Hospital for Women, Barker Street, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, 2031, Australia.
Jason A AbbottSchool of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Level 1, Royal Hospital for Women, Barker Street, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, 2031, Australia.
Royal Hospital for Women · AUBlacktown & Mount Druitt Hospital · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introduction and hypothesisMyofascial pain arising from pelvic floor muscles occurs in women with vaginismus, interstitial cystitis and endometriosis but is often overlooked. The aim is to examine alternative diagnostic tests to detect pelvic floor myofascial pain compared with standardized vaginal palpation of pelvic floor muscles as the reference test.

methodsA systematic review was prospectively conducted (PROSPERO-CRD42020183092) according to PRISMA guidelines. Databases searched included Ovid Medline 1946-, Embase 1957-, Scopus 1960-, Cochrane Combined, Clinical trials, Google Scholar (top 200 articles), Web of Science, TRIP, BIOSIS, DARE, CINHAL, EmCare, PEDro, ProQuest and EBSCOhost up to July 2020. Articles were independently screened by two authors and assessed for bias using QUASDAS-2 tool.

resultsA total of 26,778 articles were screened and 177 were selected for full text review, of which 5 were selected for final analysis. Five studies included 9694 participants of which 1628 had pelvic floor myofascial pain. Only one study reported data to calculate sensitivities and specificities of the index test, which utilized a score of > 40 on the Central Sensitization Inventory to detect women with pelvic floor myofascial pain and revealed a sensitivity of 34.8% and a specificity of 84.9% compared to the reference test.

conclusionsThis systematic review did not reveal any diagnostic test superior to the pre-defined reference test. There is a lack of consensus on the definition of pelvic floor myofascial pain and a lack of a validated diagnostic criteria which must be addressed to progress with meaningful research in this field.

Indexed as

EndometriosisMyofascial Pain SyndromesDiagnostic Tests, RoutineFemaleHumansPainPelvic FloorGynaecological examMyofascial painPelvic floor myalgiaPelvic painPersistent pelvic painPsychometric

Identifiers

PMID35796787
PMCPMC9427874
OpenAlexW4284679264

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.