Efficacy of a chitosan tampon in the loop electrosurgical excision procedure: A prospective randomized controlled study

It has been reported that chitosan has a hemostatic effect and an antibiotic activity. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of using a chitosan tampon (Hemoblock-Tampon) in preventing hemorrhage and enhancing wound healing after the loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP).This single-blind, prospective, randomized study included 62 consecutive patients who underwent LEEP for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. A chitosan tampon (31 patients; treatment group), or a general tampon (31 patients; control group) was applied to the uterine cervix immediately after LEEP. One patient in the treatment group declined to participate in this study. Thus, 30 patients in the treatment group and 31 patients in the control group completed this study. For objective analysis of hemorrhage in the postoperative 2 weeks, the amounts of bleeding were checked daily with a pictorial blood assessment chart. We evaluated vaginal discharge, abdominal pain, and impairment in daily living during the postoperative 2 weeks using 5 visual analogue scale questionnaires.The bleeding count was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group (21.37 ± 16.86 vs. 40.52 ± 16.55, p = 0.0014). The sum of the scores of the 5 questionnaires was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group (6.53 ± 2.84 vs. 8.59 ± 2.88, p = 0.0079). The incidence of vaginal discharge was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group (20.0% vs. 48.4%, p = 0.0207). According to logistic regression, only the use of chitosan tampon reduced the risk of moderate to severe vaginal bleeding 2 weeks after surgery (Odd ratio, 0.213; 95% confidence interval, 0.06–0.76; p = 0.0172). Complete healing of the uterine cervix occurred in 86.7% of patients in the treatment group and in 61.3% of patients in the control group at 4 weeks after surgery (p = 0.0255).The use of chitosan tampons can reduce hemorrhage, vaginal discharge, abdominal pain, and impairment of daily living after LEEP. Moreover, chitosan tampon may help enhance wound healing.