Immunohistochemical staining with CD117 and PGP9.5 of excised vestibular tissue from patients with neuroproliferative vestibulodynia.

Background: Neuroproliferative vestibulodynia (NPV), a provoked genital pain characterized by severe allodynia and hyperalgesia, is confirmed in excised vestibular tissue by immunohistochemical staining (>8 CD117-positive immunostained cells/100× microscopic field) rather than by hematoxylin and eosin staining.

Aim: In this study we sought to assess immunostaining of tissue samples obtained during vestibulectomy surgery and to correlate results with patient outcomes.

Methods: Patients (n = 65) meeting criteria for NPV who underwent vestibulectomy during the period from June 2019 through December 2022 formed the study cohort.