Treatment of rectovaginal endometriosis with the etonogestrel-releasing contraceptive implant

Simone Ferrero, Carolina Scala, Stefano Ciccarelli, Valerio Gaetano Vellone, Fabio Barra
Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology · 2019 · vol. 36(6) , pp. 540–544 · doi:10.1080/09513590.2019.1689552 · PMID:31711348 · W2982788953
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This retrospective study found the etonogestrel implant effectively reduced rectovaginal endometriosis nodule volume and significantly improved pain symptoms and quality of life in women over two years.

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Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of the etonogestrel (ENG)-releasing implant in treating patients with rectovaginal endometriosis. The study was based on the retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database, including symptomatic women who had ultrasonographic diagnosis of rectovaginal endometriosis. Patients were follow-up at 6, 12 and 24 months from the insertion of the ENG-releasing implant. The intensity of pain symptoms was evaluated using a visual analog scale. The volume of the nodules was estimated by virtual organ computer-aided analysis. The Endometriosis Health Profile (EHP-30) was used to evaluate quality of life. Overall, 43 women were included in the study. The 2-year continuation rate for the ENG-releasing implant was 93.0%. The treatment quickly improved the intensity of non-menstrual pelvic pain, deep dyspareunia, dysmenorrhea, and dyschezia. At 6-month follow-up, there were improvements in all domains of the EHP-30 compared with baseline. Further improvements in the EHP-30 results were observed only in pain sub score at 12-month follow-up and in emotional well-being sub score at 24-month follow-up. At 6-month follow-up the volume of the rectovaginal nodules was significantly lower compared with baseline; a further decrease was observed at 12- and 24-month follow-up. The treatment was well tolerated.

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Outcome instruments

EHP-30

Condition tags

dysmenorrheadyspareuniaendometriosischronic_pelvic_painbowel_endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Desogestrel Endometriosis Rectal Diseases Vaginal Diseases Adult Contraceptive Agents, Female Contraceptive Agents, Female Contraceptive Agents, Female Contraceptive Agents, Hormonal Contraceptive Agents, Hormonal Contraceptive Agents, Hormonal Desogestrel Desogestrel Drug Implants Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Endometriosis Female

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 (20)

Cited by (18)

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