The Correlation between Prostaglandins Levels and the Severity of Dysmenorrhea in Patients with Adenomyosis of the Uterus

Objective: To measure the levels of prostaglandins(PGE_2?TXB_2 and 6-Keto-PGF_(1α)) in plasma,peritoneal fluid and in homogenate of uterus from patients with adenomyosis,and to explore the relationship between prostaglandin level and the severity of pain.Methods: In this study,23 patients with histologically proven adenomyosis were enrolled into test group,23 patients with leiomyoma of the uterus were taken as control.Radio-immuno-analysis was used to detect the concentration of prostaglandins(PGE_2?TXB_2 and 6-Keto-PGF_(1α)) in plasma,peritoneal fluid and homogenate from various parts of the uterus.Results: The levels of PGE_2 in the adenomyosis group were significantly higher than those of leiomyoma group,P0.05,and a positive correlation was found between the severity of dysmenorrhea and the level of PGE_2 level in adenomyosis.The levels of prostaglandins taken from patients in menstrual phase were higher than those from patients in operational phase,but no significant difference was found,P0.05.The levels of prostaglandins in peritoneal fluid had no significant difference between the two groups,and no correlation was found between prostaglandin levels and dysmenorrhea in adenomyosis.The concentration of PGE_2 in homogenate increased in the tissue with adenomyosis lesion compared with the normal myometrium tissue from adenomyosis uterus and leimyomas uterus,P0.05,and a positive correlation was found between prostaglandin level and the severity of dysmenorrhea in adenomyosis group.Conclusions: The dysfunctional increase of prostaglandins in the uterus may be the important reason for dysmenorrhea in patients with adenomyosis