Novel agents for the medical treatment of endometriosis

Lieven Platteeuw, Thomas D'Hooghe, Thomas D’Hooghe
Current opinion in obstetrics & gynecology · 2014 · vol. 26(4) , pp. 243–252 · doi:10.1097/gco.0000000000000084 · PMID:24978852 · W1998296936
review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 25 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

New hormonal and nonhormonal agents targeting endometriosis pathways show promise but require further human trials to establish safety and efficacy for clinical use.

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Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Current medical treatments for endometriosis-associated pain, including oral contraceptives, progestins and GnRH agonists, are partially effective and have significant side-effects. The purpose of this review is to present new hormonal and nonhormonal treatment for endometriosis. RECENT FINDINGS: At present, the ideal drug that can prevent, inhibit or stop development of endometriosis, reduce associated pain or infertility and allow conception does not exist. New drugs in development for endometriosis modulate GnRH, estrogen and/or progesterone receptors, or target endometriosis-associated inflammation, angiogenesis, adhesion and/or tissue invasion. Most have been tested in rodents, and have been evaluated in more relevant animal models like nonhuman primates (baboons), but only a few, that is GnRH antagonists, have been tested in human randomized controlled trials. Important safety and efficacy issues remain a concern, as steroid receptors, inflammation, adhesion, angiogenesis and tissue invasion are key factors in physiological events like ovulation, menstruation and embryo implantation. SUMMARY: New drugs for the medical treatment of endometriosis targeting both hormonal (GnRH, estrogen and progesterone receptors) and nonhormonal pathways (inflammation, angiogenesis, adhesions, tissue invasion) are promising, but their efficacy and safety need to be established in randomized human trials before they can be used in clinical practice.

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Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal Endometriosis Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Infertility, Female Pain Progestins Animals Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Humans Infertility, Female Mice Pain Pain Pain Progestins

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 (88)

Cited by (25)

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License: CC0 · commercial use OK