Combined laparoscopic surgery and pentoxifylline therapy for treatment of endometriosis-associated infertility: a preliminary trial

Creus M, Montserrat Creus, Francisco Fábregues, Fábregues F, F. Fàbregues, Francisco Carmona, Marta del Pino, Manau D, Dolors Manau, Balasch J, Juan Balasch
Human Reproduction · 2008 · vol. 23(8) , pp. 1910–1916 · doi:10.1093/humrep/den167 · PMID:18487215 · W1974271050
RCT OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 49 in-corpus citations
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This trial found that laparoscopic surgery combined with pentoxifylline therapy resulted in higher pregnancy rates compared to surgery alone in women with endometriosis-associated infertility.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Surgical treatment has modest efficacy for the treatment of infertility associated with early-stage endometriosis. Immunomodulation with pentoxifylline is considered as a new strategy potentially useful in treating endometriosis. Thus, this study investigated the usefulness of combined laparoscopic surgery and pentoxifylline therapy in the treatment of infertility associated with minimal to mild endometriosis. METHODS: A prospective, randomized, controlled blind trial was conducted. Patients entered the study immediately after laparoscopic surgery and were randomly assigned to the treatment with either oral pentoxifylline (800 mg/day) (pentoxifylline group, n = 51) or an oral placebo (placebo group, n = 53). Patients were then observed for pregnancy for 6 months. RESULTS: Among 98 patients finally considered in the evaluation of the results, the 6 month overall pregnancy rates were 28 and 14% in the pentoxifylline and placebo groups, respectively. Thus, an absolute difference of 14% (95% CI -2 to 30) (Chi-squared test, P = 0.1) in the cumulative probability of pregnancy in 6 months after laparoscopic surgery in patients receiving pentoxifylline versus placebo post-operatively was observed. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide preliminary clinical evidence to suggest the new experimental treatment approaches, toward endometriosis, that are based on immunomodulation deserve further attention. Well-designed multicenter trials are warranted to confirm or refute our results.

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Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Immunologic Factors Infertility, Female Pentoxifylline Adult Adult Combined Modality Therapy Combined Modality Therapy Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Humans Humans Immunologic Factors Immunologic Factors Infertility, Female

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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 (41)

Cited by (49)

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