Pelvic pain in endometriosis: is success of therapy gone in cigarette smoke?

Pelvic pain in endometriosis: is success of therapy gone in cigarette smoke? () Agnes Koppan, Judit Hamori, Ildiko Vranics, Janos Garai, Ildiko Kriszbacher, Jozsef Bodis, Frank Oehmke, Hans-Rudolph Tinneberg, Miklos Koppan DOI: 10.4236/health.2011.39098 PDF HTML 4,712 Downloads 9,549 Views Citations DOI: 10.4236/health.2011.39098 PDF HTML 4,712 Downloads 9,549 Views Citations The objective of the study was to assess potential individual factors influencing the efficacy of combined surgical and medical therapy in en-dometriosis patients with pelvic pain. For this purpose we performed a prospective study using a specifically designed questionnaire among patients suffering from persistent pelvic pain and undergoing laparoscopy and further GnRH analogue therapy in a university-based gyne-cologic department. Eighty-one women of re-productive age with histologically confirmed endometriosis were enrolled. A questionnaire gathered information from women on the fol-lowing groups of variables: age, marital status, education, reproductive and medical history including previous pregnancies and parity, knowledge of accompaniing pelvic disorders, concurrent cigarette smoking, as well as general quality of life estimates including self-image. Pelvic pain was scored using a visual analogue scale. Patients filled out the questionnaires before surgery and upon completing medical therapy. Data were statistically evaluated. After cessation of therapy, 53% of patients reported absence of pain. Only 12% of pain-free patients were smokers. This corresponded to slightly more than one third (35%) of all smokers in the study. However, 56% of non-smoker participants reported a positive outcome that proved to be significantly larger than the ratio of pain-free smoker participants (p = 0.02). Improvement in quality of life was reported by 74% of all patients, and only 9% of them were smokers. However, 47% were smokers among patients reporting no change or worsening in quality of life (p < 0.01). Based on our results, we can conclude, that regular smoking might have a disadvantageous impact on the success rate of combined surgical and medical therapy for endometriosis related pelvic pain. Share and Cite: Koppan, A. , Hamori, J. , Vranics, I. , Garai, J. , Kriszbacher, I. , Bodis, J. , Oehmke, F. , Tinneberg, H. and Koppan, M. (2011) Pelvic pain in endometriosis: is success of therapy gone in cigarette smoke?. Health, 3, 571-576. doi: 10.4236/health.2011.39098. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest. | [1] | Birnbaum, L.S. and Cummings, A.M. (2002) Dioxins and endometriosis: A plausible hypothesis. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110, 15-21. doi:10.1289/ehp.0211015 | | [2] | Garai, J., Molnar, V., Varga, T., Koppan, M., Torok, A. and Bodis, J. (2006) Endometriosis: Harmful survival of an ectopic tissue. 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