Evolution of medical treatment for endometriosis: back to the roots?

Fritz Wieser, Misha Cohen, Andrew Gaeddert, Jie Yu, Carla Burks-Wicks, Sarah L Berga, Robert N Taylor
Human reproduction update · 2007 · vol. 13(5) , pp. 487–499 · doi:10.1093/humupd/dmm015 · PMID:17575287 · W2158026593
review OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 61 in-corpus citations
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This systematic review explores the potential of medicinal herbs for endometriosis by examining their anti-inflammatory and pain-alleviating properties, mechanisms of action, and the need for further clinical trials.

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Abstract

Experimental evidence is accumulating to suggest that medicinal botanicals have anti-inflammatory and pain-alleviating properties and hold promise for treatment of endometriosis. Herein, we present a systematic review of clinical and experimental data on the use of medicinal herbs in the treatment of endometriosis. Although there is a general lack of evidence from clinical studies on the potential efficacy of medicinal herbs for the treatment of endometriosis-associated symptoms, our review highlights the anti-inflammatory and pain-alleviating mechanisms of action of herbal remedies. Medicinal herbs and their active components exhibit cytokine-suppressive, COX-2-inhibiting, antioxidant, sedative and pain-alleviating properties. Each of these mechanisms of action would be predicted to have salutary effects in endometriosis. Better understanding of the mechanisms of action, toxicity and herb-herb and herb-drug interactions permits the optimization of design and execution of complementary alternative medicine trials for endometriosis-associated pain. A potential benefit of herbal therapy is the likelihood of synergistic interactions within individual or combinations of plants. In this sense, phytotherapies may be analogous to nutraceuticals or whole food nutrition. We encourage the development of herbal analogues and establishment of special, simplified registration procedures for certain medicinal products, particularly herbal derivates with a long tradition of safe use.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Phytotherapy Plant Preparations Plants, Medicinal Animals Endometriosis Female Herb-Drug Interactions Humans Mice Plant Preparations Plants, Medicinal

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.

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