Adenomyosis: a systematic review of medical treatment

Alessandro Pontis, A Pontis, Maurizio Nicola D’Alterio, M N D'Alterio, S Pirarba, Silvia Pirarba, Carlo DeAngelis, C de Angelis, Raffaele Tinelli, R Tinelli, S Angioni, Stefano Angioni
Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology · 2016 · vol. 32(9) , pp. 696–700 · doi:10.1080/09513590.2016.1197200 · PMID:27379972 · W2467807388
review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 140 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

This review discusses medical management of adenomyosis symptoms, finding hormonal therapies like OCPs, progestins, and LNG-IUS can temporarily reduce symptoms and regress the condition.

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Abstract

Adenomyosis is a heterogeneous gynaecologic condition with a range of clinical presentations, the most common being heavy menstrual bleeding and dysmenorrhoea; however, patients can also be asymptomatic. Several studies support the theory that adenomyosis results from invasion of the endometrium into the myometrium, causing alterations in the junctional zone. These changes are commonly seen on imaging studies, such as transvaginal ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. The aim of this review is to discuss the medical approach to the management of adenomyosis symptoms, including pain and abnormal uterine bleeding. The standard treatment of adenomyosis is hysterectomy, but there is no medical therapy to treat the symptoms of adenomyosis while still allowing patients to conceive. Medical therapies using suppressive hormonal treatments, such as continuous use of oral contraceptive pills, high-dose progestins, selective oestrogen receptor modulators, selective progesterone receptor modulators, the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device, aromatase inhibitors, danazol, and gonadotrophin receptor hormone agonists can temporarily induce regression of adenomyosis and improve the symptoms.

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Condition tags

adenomyosisdysmenorrhea

MeSH descriptors

Adenomyosis Adenomyosis Female 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 (59)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

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License: CC0 · commercial use OK