Medical treatment of endometriosis: an update

Laila Ezzat
In: International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology · 2017 · vol. 6(10) , pp. 4187 · doi:10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20174193 · W2756426927
article OA: diamond CC0 ⤵ 6 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This review of endometriosis medical treatments emphasizes hormonal therapy as the primary choice, with complementary and alternative medicine considered for specific patient groups.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This paper is an evidence-based narrative review that examined the medical management of endometriosis by searching Medline and other online sources up to 2017, covering both hormonal and non-hormonal pharmaceutical treatments and complementary/alternative approaches. It reports that hormonal therapy is generally the treatment of choice for endometriosis-associated symptoms such as pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, and dyspareunia, while complementary therapies are described as supplementary options or alternatives when medical therapy is contraindicated. The authors emphasize that endometriosis is a complex multifactorial disease influenced by multiple cofactors, and the review relies on selected literature based on currency and relevance rather than presenting new primary comparative data. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it updates evidence for medical (hormonal and non-hormonal) treatment strategies for symptomatic endometriosis.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial-like tissue (glands and stroma) outside the uterus, which induces a chronic inflammatory reaction, scar tissue, and adhesions that may distort a woman’s pelvic anatomy. Endometriosis is primarily found in young women, but its occurrence is not related to ethnic or social group distinctions. Patients with endometriosis mainly complain of pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, and dyspareunia. Endometriosis is a very common debilitating disease that occurs in 6 to 10% of the general female population; in women with pain, infertility, or both, the frequency is 35-50%. This is an evidence based narrative review conducted by searching Medline up to (2017) and other online articles from Pubmed, Google scholar by using terms like Endometriosis, management, evidence based, updated treatment, pharmacoceutical hormon treatment and non-hormonal treatment. Articles were selected based on their currency and relevance to the discussion. Numerous cofactors can play a role in the progression and maintenance of endometriosis, which is thus a complex multifactorial disease. Hormonal therapy represents the treatment of choice in patients with endometriosis; with this in mind, we could consider CAM a supplementary option to be added to hormonal treatment, or as a valuable opportunity for those women in whom medical therapy is contraindicated.

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Condition tags

endometriosisdysmenorrheadyspareuniainfertility

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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