Long-term treatment of endometriosis-related pain among women seeking hormonal contraception

Silvia Vannuccini, Chiara Biagiotti, Maria Celeste Esposto, Francesco La Torre, Sara Clemenza, Gretha Orlandi, Tommaso Capezzuoli, Felice Petraglia
Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology · 2022 · vol. 38(5) , pp. 398–402 · doi:10.1080/09513590.2022.2047172 · PMID:35238265 · W4214876580
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 5 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Desogestrel (DSG) progestin-only contraceptives effectively reduced endometriosis pain, with patients maintaining DSG therapy long-term more often than combined oral contraceptives (COCs).

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the different effects of a progestin-only contraceptive with desogestrel (DSG) vs combined oral contraceptives (COCs) for a first line long-term treatment of endometriosis-related pain among patients seeking hormonal contraception.Methods An observational retrospective cohort study was conducted in collaboration with a local outpatient clinic for endometriosis among a group of nulliparous young women (n = 216) with endometriosis-related pain and seeking contraception. The cohort was subdivided into a group (n = 73) treated as first line by DSG and another group (n = 75) treated by a COC. During the study, clinical symptoms, side effects and possible changes in OC type use were recorded.Results No significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of clinical characteristics and pain scores before treatment. After 6 months both treatments were effective in reducing endometriosis-related pain, and those treated with DSG showed lower levels of dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and nonmenstrual pelvic pain than COCs group (p < .01). After 12 months, in DSG Group some patients (15%) switched from DSG to a COC for breakthrough bleeding, whereas in COC Group 48% of patients switched to another type of COC for reduced efficacy on pain and/or for side effects. After 3 years of OC treatment, in DSG Group 79% of patients maintained the same therapy, whereas in COC Group only 14% continued the same COC type, 37% switched to another COC and 47% to DSG.Conclusions A progestin-only contraceptive with DSG is a valid option for long term management of endometriosis-related pain in patients seeking hormonal contraception.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_paindysmenorrheadyspareunia

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Contraception Contraceptives, Oral, Combined Contraceptives, Oral, Combined Desogestrel Desogestrel Ethinyl Estradiol Ethinyl Estradiol Female Hormonal Contraception Humans Pelvic Pain Pelvic Pain Pelvic Pain Progesterone Congeners Progestins Progestins Retrospective Studies

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 (41)

Cited by (5)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-18T06:15:08.409253+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:23:57.700195+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK