A double-blind randomized study of the treatment of endometriosis with nafarelin or nafarelin plus norethisterone

A Bergqvist, Agneta Bergqvist, J Jacobson, S Harris, Stuart R. Harris
Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology · 1997 · vol. 11(3) , pp. 187–194 · doi:10.3109/09513599709152533 · PMID:9209899 · W2053457125
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 13 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

This study found that nafarelin 200 micrograms daily improved endometriosis symptoms similarly to 400 micrograms daily, and adding norethisterone further reduced hot flushes and improved bleeding control.

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

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of nafarelin 200 micrograms (Group A), nafarelin 400 micrograms (Group B) and the combination of nafarelin 200 micrograms and norethisterone 1.2 mg (Group C) daily, in treating symptoms of endometriosis, American Fertility Society score and adverse events during 6 months of treatment. A prospective, randomized, double-blind parallel group study was performed in two centers and 49 women with endometriosis diagnosed laparoscopically were included. The patients were seen monthly for physical examination and records were taken for bleeding pattern, symptom score and adverse events. A control laparoscopy was performed at the end of 6 months of treatment. All patients were followed 6 months after treatment. At 3 and 6 months the pelvic examination total score had decreased significantly in all three groups. The total endometriosis score was significantly reduced in Groups B and C. After 2 months the total symptom score showed a significant decrease in Groups B and C. The frequency of hot flushes during the first month of treatment was lowest in Group C, but during the rest of treatment there were no differences between the groups. Best bleeding control was obtained in Group C. We conclude that nafarelin 200 micrograms daily has as good an effect on endometriosis symptoms as nafarelin 400 micrograms daily, and the addition of norethisterone 1.2 mg results in fewer hot flushes and better bleeding control.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Hormones Nafarelin Norethindrone Progesterone Congeners Adult Cohort Studies Double-Blind Method Drug Therapy, Combination Endometriosis Estradiol Estradiol Estradiol Female Hormones Hormones Hormones Humans Middle Aged Nafarelin

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 (27)

Cited by (13)

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: 2026-05-13T22:10:52.568893+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK