Advances in Treatment Options of Endometriosis

Sebiha Ozkan, Sebiha Özkan, Aydin Arici, Aydın Arıcı
Gynecologic and obstetric investigation · 2008 · vol. 67(2) , pp. 81–91 · doi:10.1159/000163071 · PMID:18931504 · W2005458011
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review discusses individualized treatment options for endometriosis-associated pain and infertility, noting medical therapy's efficacy for pain, surgery's benefit for infertility, and the need for further trials on combination therapies and etiopathogenesis.

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Abstract

Endometriosis, defined as the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus, is a challenging condition associated with substantial morbidity. Management of endometriosis must be individualized according to the desired treatment outcome, whether it is relief of pain, improvement of fertility, or the prevention of recurrence. For alleviation of endometriosis-associated pain, medical treatment is generally successful, with no medical agent being more efficacious than another in spite of significantly differing side-effect profiles. Surgical therapy has also been demonstrated to reduce pain scores in comparison with expectant management, although conservative surgery has been frequently associated with recurrence. The efficacy of combination therapies still remains to be clarified. For treatment of endometriosis-associated infertility, suppressive medical treatment has been proven to be detrimental to fertility and should be discouraged, while surgery is probably efficacious for all stages. Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation with intrauterine insemination is recommended in early-stage and surgically corrected endometriosis. Combined surgery with GnRH analog treatment has been proposed to be first-line therapy, followed by IVF as second-line therapy in advanced cases. More rigorously designed randomized clinical trials focusing on the endocrinological, immunological, and genetic aspects of endometriosis are necessary to refine conclusions regarding the etiopathogenesis and therapeutic innovations of this perplexing disease.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715mesh:D017699endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Infertility, Female Pelvic Pain Adult Combined Modality Therapy Drug Therapy, Combination Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Evidence-Based Medicine Female Forecasting Gynecologic Surgical Procedures Gynecologic Surgical Procedures Gynecologic Surgical Procedures Hormone Antagonists Hormone Antagonists Hormones Hormones Humans

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 (82)

Cited by (38)

Source provenance

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