Background and Objectives Most recently vaginal laser treatment was introduced as a new option for women with genitourinary syndrome of menopause, vaginal dryness. Our objective was to assess the effects of intravaginal CO2 laser treatment on vaginal cytology. Study Design/Materials and Methods Fifty‐two women with symptoms of vaginal dryness were enrolled and underwent vaginal laser treatment using a fractional CO2 laser. Patients received three vaginal laser treatments 4 weeks apart. Vaginal cytology was obtained before the first treatment and 4 weeks after each additional treatment. Vaginal dryness was assessed by using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Results Out of the 52 women enrolled, 34 were in menopause. Postmenopausal women had significantly lower vaginal maturation values (VMV) compared with premenopausal women at the baseline visit (mean ± standard deviation [SD], 42 ± 23 vs. 68 ± 13, P < 0.01). The vaginal dryness VAS was higher (worse) in postmenopausal women compared with premenopausal cases (mean ± SD, 5.7 ± 4 vs. 2.4 ± 3, P < 0.01). The VMV did not change significantly over time after vaginal laser treatment. However vaginal dryness VAS improved significantly after each treatment. Both in the premenopausal and postmenopausal groups, vaginal dryness scores improved significantly from baseline after the three treatments (postmenopausal 5.7 ± 4 vs. 1.6 ± 2.5, P < 0.01 and premenopausal 2.4 ± 3 vs. 0.2 ± 0.5, P < 0.01). Those patients who had improvement in VMV had significantly better (lower) dryness VAS compared with those women without an improvement in VMV after the three treatments (mean ± SD, 0.3 ± 0.8 vs. 1.6 ± 2.6, P = 0.04). Conclusions Vaginal dryness VAS improved significantly in a cohort of premenopausal and postmenopausal women undergoing vaginal CO2 laser treatment despite no significant change in vaginal cytology. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Our pathological results indicate that structural vascular abnormalities characterized by vessel wall thickening are associated with leukoaraiosis, supporting the assertion that vascular changes and ischemia generate leukoaraiosis. The relations between parkinsonism and leukoaraiosis may be explicable through vascular effects on the circuitry of the basal ganglia.

• The phagocytic function of granulocytes and monocytes was examined in normal and preeclamptic pregnancy.• To our knowledge there are no scientific data on this topic.• The phagocytic index decreased significantly in healthy pregnancy compared with the non-pregnant state.• The phagocytic index decreased significantly in preeclampsia compared with the healthy pregnant state.Please cite this article in press as: Lampé, R., et al. Neutrophil granulocytes and monocytes have been intensively studied, but there is no scientific data on one of their most important functions, namely the phagocyte function in pregnancy and preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to examine this function. Twenty-five healthy pregnant, 25 preeclamptic pregnant, and 20 healthy, non-pregnant women were enrolled into our study. Cells were isolated from peripheral blood samples, marked and evaluated for the phagocytic index with an immunofluorescent microscope after phagocytosing the zymosan molecules. The phagocytic function of monocytes and neutrophil granulocytes decreased significantly in healthy pregnancy compared with nonpregnant women and in preeclampsia, and it decreased significantly compared with healthy pregnancy. Decreased phagocytic function in healthy pregnancy can be a part of the maternal immunosuppression, which is essential for the protection of the hemiallograft fetus. Further reduction of phagocytic function may be one of the immunoregulatory abnormalities found in preeclampsia.

The decreased phagocyte function of neutrophil granulocytes and that of monocytes in healthy pregnancy and the further decreased phagocyte function in preeclampsia is caused by factor(s) in the maternal circulation.

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