Adenomyosis and Abnormal Uterine Bleeding: Review of the Evidence

Marwan Habiba, Sun‐Wei Guo, Giuseppe Benagiano
Biomolecules · 2024 · vol. 14(6) , pp. 616 · doi:10.3390/biom14060616 · PMID:38927019 · W4398233715
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 5 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

Despite historical assumptions, a review of existing literature reveals inconclusive evidence supporting a direct link between adenomyosis and abnormal uterine bleeding due to methodological limitations and coexisting factors.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Thomas Cullen described bleeding abnormalities and dysmenorrhea as the "expected" presentations of adenomyomas. Adenomyosis is included within the FIGO classification of structural causes of abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). Nevertheless, this long-standing association has been questioned by some authors who reported a high incidence of adenomyosis in uteri removed for indications other than AUB or dysmenorrhea. Here, we examine evidence for the link between adenomyosis and AUB. METHODS: A comprehensive Medline literature review of all publications to October 2023. RESULTS: Sixty-three articles were identified and included in the review. Despite a large body of studies, the available literature does not provide conclusive evidence of a link between adenomyosis and AUB. This is because of unsuitable study design, or poor characterization of the study population or of the inclusion or exclusion criteria. Additional challenges arise because of the lack of agreed criteria for diagnosing adenomyosis and the often absence of detailed assessment of menstrual blood loss. Adenomyosis often coexists with other conditions that have also been linked to similar symptoms, and many cases of adenomyosis are asymptomatic. CONCLUSION: Most of the existing literature and studies that addressed treatment outcome of adenomyosis started from the premise that a link between the condition and AUB had been proven. Yet, published information shows that aspects such a relationship is still uncertain. Further research is needed to address the relation between AUB and adenomyosis burden (or subtypes), distribution, and concomitant pathology.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004412adenomyosisdysmenorrhea

MeSH descriptors

Adenomyosis Adenomyosis Adenomyosis Adenomyosis Adenomyosis Adenomyosis Adenomyosis Adenomyosis Uterine Hemorrhage Uterine Hemorrhage Uterine Hemorrhage Uterine Hemorrhage Uterine Hemorrhage Uterine Hemorrhage Uterine Hemorrhage Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea

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 (94)

Cited by (5)

Source provenance

europepmc
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