Effect of French maritime pine bark extract on endometriosis as compared with leuprorelin acetate.

Takafumi Kohama, Kotaro Herai, Masaki Inoue
The Journal of reproductive medicine · 2007 · vol. 52(8) , pp. 703–8 · PMID:17879831 · W2265867929
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 15 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

French maritime pine bark extract reduced endometriosis symptoms and CA-125 levels, comparable to leuprorelin acetate, but without impacting estrogen or menstrual cycles.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the effect of Pycnogenol (Horphag Research, Geneva, Switzerland), French maritime pine bark extract, on endometriosis. STUDY DESIGN: Fifty-eight women were included in this study. They were operated on conservatively for endometriosis and surgically diagnosed with the condition. All patients were followed at 4, 12, 24 and 48 weeks after starting treatment to check for endometriosis signs and symptoms, including changes in CA-125 and estrogen levels (E2). Thirty-two patients in the Pycnogenol treatment group took 60 mg Pycnogenol orally a day for 48 weeks. The 26 patients who received gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (Gn-RHa) were treated in the standard way. RESULTS: Treatment with Pycnogenol slowly but steadily reduced the symptom scores. Treatment with Gn-RHa reduced the scores more efficiently; however, 24 weeks after the end of treatment, the scores suggested a recurrence of signs. No influence of treatment on menstrual cycles or E2 was observed in the Pycnogenol group. CA-125 decreased in both treatment groups. Patients with smaller endometriomas responded better to treatment as compared to patients with larger endometriomas. In the Gn-RHa group, the lowering of CA-125 concentrations was far more pronounced; however, a clear rebound effect was observed. CONCLUSION: Pycnogenol is a therapeutic alternative to Gn-RHa in the treatment of endometriosis.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Adjuvants, Immunologic Endometriosis Flavonoids Leuprolide Pain Phytotherapy Adjuvants, Immunologic Adolescent Adult CA-125 Antigen CA-125 Antigen Dose-Response Relationship, Drug Drug Administration Schedule Endometriosis Estrogens Estrogens Female Fertility Agents, Female Fertility Agents, Female Flavonoids

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 (21)

Cited by (15)

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