Systematic review of the effects of aromatase inhibitors on pain associated with endometriosis

Sanjay Patwardhan, Nawathe A, A Nawathe, Patwardhan S, Amar C. Nawathe, S Patwardhan, Yates D, Derrick Yates, D Yates, Harrison GR, G R Harrison, G G Harrison, K S Khan, Khalid S. Khan
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology · 2008 · vol. 115(7) , pp. 818–822 · doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2008.01740.x · PMID:18485158 · W1993192106
Systematic review / meta-analysis OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 96 in-corpus citations
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This systematic review found that aromatase inhibitors, when combined with other treatments, reduced pain scores and lesion size in women with endometriosis, though more evidence is needed.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of aromatase inhibitors in women symptomatic of pain with endometriosis. DESIGN: A systematic review of published literature. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive literature search to identify all the published observational and randomised studies evaluating the efficacy of aromatase inhibitors on pain associated with endometriosis. A combination of keywords was used to identify the maximum number of relevant citations in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Database. Outcome Pain relief, lesion size and quality of life. RESULTS: There were eight studies (137 women) evaluating outcomes of aromatase inhibitors. In case series/reports (seven studies, 40 women), aromatase inhibitors combined with progestogens or oral contraceptive pill or gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues reduced mean pain scores and lesion size and improved quality of life. An RCT (97 women) demonstrated that aromatase inhibitors in combination with GnRH analogues significantly improved pain (P < 0.0001) compared with GnRH analogues alone together with significant improvement in multidimensional patient scores (P < 0.0001). There was no significant reduction in spine or hip-bone densities. CONCLUSION: Aromatase inhibitors appear to have a promising effect on pain associated with endometriosis, but the strength of this inference is limited due to a dearth of the evidence available.

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Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_pain

MeSH descriptors

Aromatase Inhibitors Endometriosis Pelvic Pain Analgesics Analgesics Analgesics Angiogenesis Inhibitors Angiogenesis Inhibitors Angiogenesis Inhibitors Aromatase Inhibitors Aromatase Inhibitors Contraceptive Agents, Female Contraceptive Agents, Female Contraceptive Agents, Female Endometriosis Endometriosis Estrogen Antagonists Estrogen Antagonists Estrogen Antagonists Female

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

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. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (23)

Cited by (50)

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