{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]],"date-time":"2026-07-07T19:20:01Z","timestamp":1783452001470,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":5,"publisher":"Bioscientifica","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]],"date-time":"2026-07-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783382400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":97,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.bioscientifica.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Adenomyosis and endometriosis are two sister diseases that cause menstrual pain and other symptoms. We have previously reported that patients with these conditions have a less active \u2018calm-and-rest\u2019 system and a more active \u2018stress-and-alert\u2019 system. Other studies have shown that a gentle, non-invasive treatment called transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) can safely and effectively boost the \u2018calm-and-rest\u2019 system in many disorders. So we wanted to see if taVNS could also help with menstrual pain caused by endometriosis and adenomyosis. We tried it in a small pilot study with four patients with adenomyosis and two patients with endometriosis. They received taVNS for six months. We found that taVNS was well tolerated and relieved their pain three and six months after taVNS. These early results are encouraging, but because the study was small, we need larger, more rigorous studies to fully know how well taVNS works for this kind of pain.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1530\/raf-26-0052","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T17:51:26Z","timestamp":1779817886000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/crossmarkpolicy-13","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A pilot study on the use of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation to relieve dysmenorrhea in patients with adenomyosis and endometriosis"],"prefix":"10.1530","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Jichan","family":"Nie","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"1"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yunhua","family":"Yi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xishi","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1"},{"name":"2"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Philippe R","family":"Koninckx","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"3"},{"name":"4"},{"name":"5"},{"name":"6"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8511-7624","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sun-Wei","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"7"},{"name":"8"},{"name":"9"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"416","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026070714154643300_bib1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"R101","DOI":"10.1530\/REP-22-0224","article-title":"Cracking the enigma of adenomyosis: an update on its pathogenesis and pathophysiology","volume":"164","author":"Guo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Reproduction"},{"key":"2026070714154643300_bib2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1345","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-020-79750-9","article-title":"Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach","volume":"11","author":"Hao","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"2026070714154643300_bib3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2807","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2021.04.041","article-title":"Endometriosis: etiology, pathobiology, and therapeutic prospects","volume":"184","author":"Saunders","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"2026070714154643300_bib4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1080\/17434440.2022.2020095","article-title":"Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulators: a review of past, present, and future devices","volume":"19","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Expert Rev Med Devices"},{"key":"2026070714154643300_bib5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1530\/RAF-25-0039","article-title":"Reduced vagal tone in women with adenomyosis","volume":"6","author":"Zeng","year":"2025","journal-title":"Reprod Fertil"}],"container-title":["Reproduction and Fertility"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/raf.bioscientifica.com\/view\/journals\/raf\/7\/2\/RAF-26-0052.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/raf.bioscientifica.com\/downloadpdf\/journals\/raf\/7\/2\/RAF-26-0052.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.bioscientifica.com\/raf\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1530\/RAF-26-0052\/521322\/raf-26-0052.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.bioscientifica.com\/raf\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1530\/RAF-26-0052\/521322\/raf-26-0052.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]],"date-time":"2026-07-07T18:17:02Z","timestamp":1783448222000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.bioscientifica.com\/raf\/article\/7\/2\/RAF260052\/77667\/A-pilot-study-on-the-use-of-transcutaneous"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]]},"references-count":5,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/raf-26-0052","relation":{},"ISSN":["2633-8386"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2633-8386","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]]},"article-number":"RAF260052"}}