Leuprolide Acetate Depot and Hormonal Add-Back in Endometriosis: A 12-Month Study

Mark D. Hornstein, M D Hornstein, E S Surrey, G W Weisberg, L A Casino
Obstetrics and gynecology · 1998 · vol. 91(1) , pp. 16–24 · doi:10.1016/s0029-7844(97)00620-0 · PMID:9464714 · W2090062039
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 164 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

Leuprolide acetate depot with hormonal add-back regimens effectively suppressed endometriosis-associated pelvic pain and preserved bone density over 12 months.

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

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a GnRH agonist, leuprolide acetate depot, alone and in combination with three hormonal add-back regimens in the management of endometriosis-associated pelvic pain. METHODS: Two hundred and one patients were enrolled in this multicenter, randomized, double-blind, 1-year trial. All patients were given an intramuscular injection of leuprolide acetate depot 3.75 mg every 4 weeks. Patients were assigned to one of four treatment groups: Group A received placebos for progestin and estrogen, group B received norethindrone acetate 5 mg daily and placebo for estrogen, group C received norethindrone acetate 5 mg and conjugated equine estrogens 0.625 mg daily, and group D received norethindrone acetate 5 mg and conjugated equine estrogens 1.25 mg daily. Pelvic pain scores were assessed monthly, and bone density was measured after 24 and 52 weeks. RESULTS: By week 8, all four groups showed significant improvement in pelvic pain scores compared with baseline levels. A higher proportion of group D patients terminated the study prematurely due to a lack of improvement in symptoms. Group A experienced a 6.3 +/- 2.3% (P < or = .001) loss in bone density after 52 weeks of treatment, whereas bone density was preserved in all three add-back groups. CONCLUSION: The use of leuprolide acetate depot in combination with norethindrone acetate 5 mg alone, or with norethindrone acetate and conjugated equine estrogens 0.625 mg, provides effective suppression of pelvic pain symptoms associated with endometriosis while protecting against bone loss.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_pain

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Leuprolide Adult Bone Density Bone Density Bone Density Cohort Studies Delayed-Action Preparations Double-Blind Method Drug Therapy, Combination Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Equilin Equilin Estradiol Estradiol Female Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone

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 (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-13T06:22:48.782012+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:10:46.468712+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK