Maintenance Therapy of Levonorgestrel-releasing Intrauterine System (LNG-IUS) to Prevent the Recurrence of Symptomatic Endometriosis After Conservative Surgery

Summary

The recurrence rates of endometriosis reported in women 5 years after therapy with gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist were 74% for severe disease . No strategies to prevent the recurrence of endometriosis have been uniformly successful. Local progesterone treatment of endometriosis-associated dysmenorrhea with a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) for 12 months has resulted in a significant reduction in dysmenorrhea, pelvic pain and dyspareunia; a high degree of patient satisfaction; and a significant reduction in the volume of rectovaginal endometriotic nodules. LNG-IUS may become a more important option if a long-term medical suppression of endometriosis. Based on literature review, I hypothesized that maintenance therapy of LNG-IUS in conjunction with the GnRH agonist could lower the recurrence rates endometriosis after conservative surgery. We try to answer the question whether maintenance therapy of LNG-IUS in conjunction with the GnRH agonist could lower the recurrence rates and thus extend the symptom-free interval (menorrhagia and dysmenorrhea) as compared to GnRH agonist alone after conservative surgery in severe endometriosis cases.

Timeline

Start

2008-03

Primary completion

2009-03

Completion

2010-09

Drugs

Indications