Endometriosis: alternative methods of medical treatment

Leticia Muñoz-Hernando, Jesús S. Jiménez López, Jose L Muñoz-Gonzalez, Laura Marqueta- Marques, Laura Marqueta-Marques, Carmen Alvarez-Conejo, Álvaro Tejerizo-García, A. Tejerizo-García, Gregorio Lopez-Gonzalez, Gregorio López González, Emilia Villegas-Muñoz, Angel Martin-Jimenez, Jose L Muñoz-González, Jesús S Jiménez-López
International journal of women's health · 2015 · vol. 7 , pp. 595 · doi:10.2147/ijwh.s78829 · PMID:26089705 · W1795293004
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 21 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This review of endometriosis treatments found current hormonal therapies effective, with aromatase inhibitors and GnRH antagonists showing promise for resistant cases, and anti-angiogenic factors offering future non-ovarian-suppressing options.

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

This review examined evidence from English human studies on newer non-surgical medical treatments for endometriosis, focusing on aromatase inhibitors, GnRH antagonists (including oral elagolix), and selective progesterone receptor modulators and other compounds such as anti-TNFα and antiangiogenic factors, using searches in PubMed, Medline, and the Cochrane Library. The review concludes that hormonal therapies currently available relieve endometriosis-related pain, and among “new” approaches, GnRH antagonists may offer similar efficacy to GnRH agonists with easier administration, while aromatase inhibitors show mixed results across a small number of RCTs, with limited data on recurrence and bone mineral density. A key limitation highlighted is that evidence for newer drug classes remains sparse and in some cases based on small, non-uniform study designs, open-label trials, and short follow-up, leaving “no strong evidence” for certain classes like GnRH antagonists. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it reviews alternative and emerging medical treatment options for endometriosis-related pain, including aromatase inhibitors and GnRH antagonists.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is an inflammatory estrogen-dependent disease defined by the presence of endometrial glands and stroma at extrauterine sites. The main purpose of endometriosis management is alleviating pain associated to the disease. This can be achieved surgically or medically, although in most women a combination of both treatments is required. Long-term medical treatment is usually needed in most women. Unfortunately, in most cases, pain symptoms recur between 6 months and 12 months once treatment is stopped. The authors conducted a literature search for English original articles, related to new medical treatments of endometriosis in humans, including articles published in PubMed, Medline, and the Cochrane Library. Keywords included "endometriosis" matched with "medical treatment", "new treatment", "GnRH antagonists", "Aromatase inhibitors", "selective progesterone receptor modulators", "anti-TNF α", and "anti-angiogenic factors". Hormonal treatments currently available are effective in the relief of pain associated to endometriosis. Among new hormonal drugs, association to aromatase inhibitors could be effective in the treatment of women who do not respond to conventional therapies. GnRH antagonists are expected to be as effective as GnRH agonists, but with easier administration (oral). There is a need to find effective treatments that do not block the ovarian function. For this purpose, antiangiogenic factors could be important components of endometriosis therapy in the future. Upcoming researches and controlled clinical trials should focus on these drugs.

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endometriosis

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