The management of Asherman syndrome in gynecology.

Asherman syndrome is an acquired condition characterized by the formation of adhesions in the uterine cavity. This condition is often caused by trauma to the endometrium, which mostly happens after currettage or post-partum, and can produce several complications such as menstrual disturbances, infertility, or recurrent abortion. The management of Asherman syndrome requires complete actions which can be summarized with the acronym PRACTICE, consisting of prevention, anticipation, comprehensive therapy, timely surveillance of subsequent pregnancies, investigation and continuing education. The prevention and anticipation aspects can be performed through reduction of invasive methods of therapy such as currettage, prophylactic therapy for adhesions such as antibiotics and post-estrogen therapy for high risk patients, and the use of instruments that do less damage to the uterine walls. The comprehensive therapy that become the method of choice is operative lysis using hysteroscopy, which provides direct visualization of the adhesion. To prevent reccurrence, especially to patients planning to have subsequent pregnancies, timely surveillance of the next pregnancies for high risk patients should be performed at hospital, with complete work-ups. Lastly, evaluation of operative results and continuing education to explain prognoses to the patient should be also performed.

Serum biomarker profiles of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, matrix-metalloproteinase-2, and vascular endothelial growth factor in endometriosis staging.

Background: The focus of this study was to compare serum biomarkers: interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), matrix-metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in endometriosis stage I-II and stage III-IV. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Forty endometriosis patients were diagnosed using laparoscopy procedure. Serum sample was taken before the surgery. The serum biomarkers (IL-6, TNF-α, MMP-2, and VEGF) were analyzed with ELISA method at the end of research. Mean of serum biomarkers in endometrosis stage I-II and stage III-IV were compared using unpaired t-test. Variables that show significant mean difference were tested using ROC measurement and the optimal cut-off point was determined. Results: There was no significant difference in mean serum biomarkers level of IL-6, TNF-α, and MMP-2 between endometriosis stage I-II and stage III-IV (1.58 ± 0.78 vs 1.55 ± 0.98 pg/mL, 1.5 ± 0.47 vs 1.49 ± 0.29 pg/mL, and 152.04 ± 27.32 vs 140.98 ± 28.08 ng/mL, respectively). On the other hand, the comparison of VEGF level in endometriosis stage I-II and stage III-IV demonstrated significant difference (289.76 ± 188.13 vs 581.29 ± 512.85 pg/mL (p < 0.05)). Mean difference of VEGF had AUC of 74.5%. Optimal cut-off point for VEGF was ≥ 314.75 pg/mL with sensitivity 78.6% and specificity 69.2%. Conclusion: This study showed that serum biomarkers of VEGF level (but not IL-6, TNF-α, and MMP-2) can be used to measure the degree of severity in endometriosis. VEGF level of 314.75 pg/mL represents the cut-off point between lower and higher stage of severity.

A cornual ectopic pregnancy case: diagnosis, etiology and its management.

This is a report of a case of cornual ectopic pregnancy, with transvaginal ultrasonography done for early detection, screening, β-hCG measuring, also discussed was the role of methotrexate therapy prior to operative procedure with conservative management. Multiple intramural myomas (22 myomas) in this case were strongly believed as the etiology of the cornual pregnancy.

The role of laparoscopic surgery in current treatment of endometriosis.

The objective of this paper is to discuss the current guidelines for treatment of endometriosis, emphasis on the role of laparoscopic surgery and medical treatment. The accuracy of diagnosis of endometriosis without laparoscopy is very low, as a false negative rate of 19 % and a false positive rate of 44%, when a diagnosis was made pre laparoscopy, 81% had the diagnosis can confirmed on laparoscopy, while 19% did not have endometriosis. It is concluded that laparoscopy is required for evaluation and treatment of endometriosis. Medical therapy is effective in reducing progression of endometriosis score.

Laparoscopic resection versus myolysis in the management of symptomatic uterine adenomyosis: alternatives to conventional treatment.

Effective therapy preserving reproductive function in adenomyosis is warranted. From June 2003 to June 2004, patients diagnosed as having adenomyosis by transvaginal ultrasound and had symptoms of menorrhagia, dysmenorrhea, and pelvic pain were randomly allocated to either receive laparoscopic resection or myolysis. GnRH analog was given for 3 cycles after surgery. Within 6 months, symptoms were evaluated using questionnaires and at the end of follow up, adenomyosis volume was assessed by transvaginal ultra-sound. There were 20 patients included, 10 patients had resection and the rest underwent myolysis. Both procedures did not yield sig-nificant complications. Subjective evaluation by questionnaires was done in all patients. Three patients could not be evaluated objec-tively by transvaginal ultrasound, 2 patients resigned and 1 was pregnant. There was no significant difference in menorrhagia and dysmenorrhea reduction score between the 2 groups (p=0.399 and 0.213, respectively). In both groups, dysmenorrhea was reduced significantly after treatment. No significant statistical difference was found in median adenomyosis volume increment (p=0.630) be-tween the resection (median=+15.35% (-100-159)} and myolysis groups (median=+48.43% (-100-553)). Five patients were pregnant, 3 from the resection group and 2 from the myolysis group. Uterine rupture was found in 1 patient (from the myolysis group) at the age of 8 months of pregnancy. The effectiveness of laparoscopic adenomyosis resection was not significantly different compared with lapa-rascopic myolysis as an alternative conservative surgery in treating symptomatic adenomyosis. Myolysis was not recommended for women who wish to be pregnant.

Spontaneous uterine rupture in a patient who had previously undergone laparoscopic myomectomy (Case report).

Following laparoscopic myomectomy, uterine rupture during pregnancy or delivery in the area of the scar is a very rare but dangerous complication. Individual cases of uterine rupture during pregnancy are described in the literature. Case report of uterine rupture during delivery in a patient who had previously undergone laparoscopic myomectomy. In the case presented here, the patient conceived 6 months after an 3.5 cm intramural myoma, had been laparoscopically removed. No symptoms suggesting uterine rupture were observed during the pregnancy, but in the first stage of delivery the condition of the patient deteriorated and symptoms of oligaemic shock developed. A laparotomy was performed, which showed the presence of 2100 gr fresh dead fetus in the abdominal cavity and ruptured uterine muscle in the scarred area about 5 cm. In patients who have previously undergone a laparoscopic myomectomy, there is some risk of uterine rupture at delivery. This is also the case where unappropriate suturing of the uterine muscle had been required.