The Effect of Capsella bursa-pastoris Extract on Heavy Menstrual Bleeding and Quality of Life in Patients with Uterine Leiomyoma: A Double-blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Objectives: Heavy Menstrual Bleeding (HMB) is the most important problems of Uterine Leiomyoma (UL). This study aimed to assess the effect of the extract of the Capsella bursa-pastoris (CBP) on the control of HMB and quality of life in patients with uterine leiomyoma.

Design: In a double-blind randomized, clinical trial 54 women with uterine leiomyoma were randomly assigned to the intervention/control groups by block randomization.

Setting: Gynecology outpatient clinics.

Intervention: The intervention group received 350 mg of alcoholic extract of Capsella bursa-pastoris and the control group received placebo twice daily for three months.

Main Outcome Measures: Amount of bleeding by Pictorial blood loss assessment chart (PBAC), quality of life by menstrual quality of life questionnaires (MQ) and bleeding duration by calendar were evaluated.

Results: The mean of PBAC decreased from 464.00± 283.61 at baseline to 323.82±207.66 in the intervention group and decreased from 445.92±362.64 to 214.36±137.68 in control group in the third month. The improvement trend was significant in the two groups, but there was no significant difference between groups. The mean of bleeding duration and menstrual quality of life showed improvement in patients of two groups without significant difference between the two groups.

Conclusion: Despite the effectiveness of CBP in the intervention group in decreasing of PBAC score and menstrual bleeding duration and improvement of menstrual quality of life in patients who suffered from UL, it did not show a significant effect compared to the control group. Future studies with a larger sample size in one specific type of UL suggested.