A study on abdominal temperature of dysmenorrhea patients

Dysmenorrhea is one of the common gynecologic disorders of menstruating women. The primary occurrence is menstrual pain without pelvic pathology, whereas the secondary occurrence is painful menstruation with underlying pathology. The cause of the primary disease is increased endometrial prostaglandin. The mechanisms underlying the secondary dysmenorrhea are not elucidated. There are many blood vessels under the skin and they play a very important role in the thermal control of peripheral parts. The control of blood circulation is mainly controlled by the autonomic nervous system and it is known that digital infrared thermographic imaging is an objective method showing the body temperature. In oriental medicine, the causes of dysmenorrhea have been recognized as something not to be penetrated such as qi, blood, and pathologic factors. These conditions can inhibit the circulation of Chong Ren Channel. The authors observed 49 patients complaining of dysmenorrhea who visited their hospital during 1997. In order to rule out thermal abnormalities due to obesity, the authors determined obesity index and excluded the cases who were above 1.0. They used computer-aided thermography. In this study the authors observed two abdominal areas to evaluate the abdominal temperature. The mean temperature of Square A in the dysmenorrhea group was 35.22/spl plusmn/1.33/spl deg/C and in the control group was 36.01/spl plusmn/0.74/spl deg/C.