Management of the Pain Associated with Endometriosis: An Update of the Painful Problems

Yuka Ozawa, Takashi Murakami, Yukihiro Terada, Nobuo Yaegashi, Kunihiro Okamura, Shinichi Kuriyama, Ichiro Tsuji
The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine · 2006 · vol. 210(3) , pp. 175–188 · doi:10.1620/tjem.210.175 · PMID:17077594 · W1996316755
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review discusses the benefits and drawbacks of laparoscopic surgery and hormonal therapies like GnRH analogues or oral contraceptives for endometriosis pain, noting significant recurrence rates and the need for further research.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 · read from full text ⓘ

This 2006 review evaluated evidence for managing pain associated with endometriosis by comparing pharmacologic and surgical interventions, summarizing data from studies in women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain. It reports that laparoscopic surgery can relieve endometriosis-associated pain, and that hormonal therapies including GnRH analogues and danazol are also effective; it further states that oral contraceptives appear as effective as GnRH analogues for pain relief. A major limitation highlighted is that despite pain relief from both approaches, endometriosis-related pain recurrence remains significant, and the review calls for larger unified clinical trials to assess new treatments. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it specifically updates management strategies for endometriosis-associated pain.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a condition characterized by ectopic endometrial tissues located outside of the uterus, most commonly found on the pelvic peritoneum or ovary. Endometriosis, which occurs in 7-10% of women in the general population and 71-87% of women with chronic pelvic pain, is associated with dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. There is considerable debate about the effectiveness of various interventions for endometriosis. This review discusses the benefits and drawbacks of pharmacologic and surgical treatments for the pain associated with endometriosis. Laparoscopic surgery has been demonstrated to relieve the pain associated with endometriosis. Hormonal therapies, such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues or the weak androgen danazol, have also been effective at relieving the pain associated with endometriosis. Oral contraceptives appear to be as effective as GnRH analogues for pain relief. Although both surgical and pharmacologic treatments have been effective for relief of the pain associated with endometriosis, the recurrence rate remains significant. The management of pain associated with endometriosis has thus not been satisfied. Larger unified clinical trials are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of new treatments in managing the pain associated with endometriosis.
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Review Management of the Pain Associated with Endometriosis: An Update of the Painful Problems 2006 Volume 210 Issue 3 Pages 175-188 Details Abstract Endometriosis is a condition characterized by ectopic endometrial tissues located outside of the uterus, most commonly found on the pelvic peritoneum or ovary. Endometriosis, which occurs in 7-10% of women in the general population and 71-87% of women with chronic pelvic pain, is associated with dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. There is considerable debate about the effectiveness of various interventions for endometriosis. This review discusses the benefits and drawbacks of pharmacologic and surgical treatments for the pain associated with endometriosis. Laparoscopic surgery has been demonstrated to relieve the pain associated with endometriosis. Hormonal therapies, such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues or the weak androgen danazol, have also been effective at relieving the pain associated with endometriosis. Oral contraceptives appear to be as effective as GnRH analogues for pain relief. Although both surgical and pharmacologic treatments have been effective for relief of the pain associated with endometriosis, the recurrence rate remains significant. The management of pain associated with endometriosis has thus not been satisfied. Larger unified clinical trials are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of new treatments in managing the pain associated with endometriosis. © 2006 Tohoku University Medical Press Favorites & Alerts Recently viewed articles - About this Journal The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine (TJEM) was founded in 1920 by professors of Tohoku Imperial University, Medical School. The TJEM has been published continuously, except for the year of 1946 just after the World War II. The TJEM is open to original articles in all branches of medical sciences. The TJEM also covers the fields of disaster-prevention science, including earthquake archeology. - Submitted manuscripts will be screened for plagiarism with Similarity Check (https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/). Announcements from publisher - Subscriptions Inland subscriptions should be sent to Tohoku University Medical Press, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, JAPAN. Subscriptions from abroad should be addressed to MARUZEN CO., LTD., EXPORT DEPARTMENT, Postal address: P.O.Box 75, Shinagawa, Tokyo 140-8799, JAPAN. e-mail: [email protected]

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715mesh:D017699endometriosischronic_pelvic_paindysmenorrheainfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Pelvic Pain Clinical Trials as Topic Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Humans Pain Measurement Pelvic Pain Pelvic Pain

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