Use of intraperitoneal interferon α-2b therapy after conservative surgery for endometriosis and postoperative medical treatment with depot gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog: a randomized clinical trial

Acién P, Pedro Acién, Francisco Quereda, Campos A, Adolfo Campos, María-José Gomez-Torres, María José Gómez‐Torres, Irene Velasco, Mercedes Gutierrez, Mercedes Gutiérrez, Gutierrez M
Fertility and Sterility · 2002 · vol. 78(4) , pp. 705–711 · doi:10.1016/s0015-0282(02)03330-7 · PMID:12372444 · W2034635082
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 43 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This randomized clinical trial investigated the efficacy of intraperitoneal interferon α-2b therapy following conservative endometriosis surgery and GnRH analog treatment.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

ObjectiveTo evaluate the possible therapeutic effects of interferon alpha-2b left in the peritoneum after surgery, followed by or not followed by treatment with GnRH analogs.DesignA prospective, randomized clinical trial.SettingUniversity hospital.Patient(s)Fifty-two infertile patients with moderate or severe endometriosis.Intervention(s)Laparotomic conservative surgery and either interferon alpha-2b or saline alone left in the pouch of Douglas followed by administration of either GnRH analogs depot or oral indomethacin with transvaginal echography and analysis of CA-125, immunoglobulins, and lymphocyte populations.Main outcome measure(s)Recurrence of endometriosis was considered clinically, echographically, and laparoscopically.Result(s)Recurrence of endometriosis in four cases without interferon (15.4%) versus 11 patients (42.3%) with interferon alpha-2b. Life table analysis showed significant differences between the groups with and without interferon 21 months after conservative surgery. There were no differences in the recurrence between the groups with or without GnRH analogs. Likewise, there were no significant changes in immunoglobulins and lymphocyte populations among patients with and without recurrence of endometriosis. The patients that received GnRH analogs depot showed a decrease in the number of CD16 and an increase of CD11b cells after treatment.Conclusion(s)The use of interferon alpha-2b within the peritoneal cavity after conservative surgery may be inappropriate because it increased later recurrence of endometriosis. The postoperative treatment with GnRH analogs did not significantly reduce the recurrence rate. Immunoglobulins and lymphocyte populations did not change in relation to the recurrence of endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Interferon-alpha Adult CA-125 Antigen CA-125 Antigen CD11 Antigens CD11 Antigens Combined Modality Therapy Delayed-Action Preparations Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Humans Immunoglobulin G Immunoglobulin G Indomethacin Indomethacin Interferon-alpha

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (27)

Cited by (43)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-07-26T06:08:39.051465+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:13:01.552487+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-07-26T06:48:27.953686+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK