Effect of Surgical Removal of Endometriomas on Cyclic and Non-cyclic Pelvic Pain.

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a complex disease with a spectrum of pain symptoms from mild dysmenorrhea to debilitating pelvic pain. There is no concrete evidence in the literature whether endometriotic cyst per se, causes pain spectrum related to the disease. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of surgical removal of endome- triomas on pain symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective, observational, before-after study, which was conducted between March 2012 and January 2013 in Training and Research Hospital,Adana, Turkey, a total of 23 patients including 16 sexually active and 7 vir- gin symptomatic women were questioned for non-cyclic pelvic pain (NCPP), intensity of the NCPP, presence of cyclic dysmenorrhea, and dyspareunia before and after the endometrioma operation. Participants who were sonographically diagnosed and later pathologically confirmed as having endometrioma without sign and symptoms of deep infiltrative endometriosis (DIE) were also questioned for pain symptoms before and after the laparoscopic removal of cyst wall. Patients with intraabdominal adhesions, history of pelvic inflammatory disease, and pathological diagnosis other than endometrioma were excluded. No ancillary procedures were applied for pain management, but if pain was present, pelvic peritoneal endometriotic lesions were ablated beside the removal of ovar- ian endometriotic cysts. RESULTS: Out of 23 cases with endometrioma, 91 and 78% reported to have NCPP and dysmenorrhea, respectively, before the operation, while 60 and 48%, respec- tively, after the operation (McNemar's test, P=0.016 for both figures). Among the sexually active cases, 31% (5/16) had dyspareunia before the operation and only 1 case reported the pain relief after the operation (McNemar's test, P=1). Intensity of NCPP were reported to be none (8.7%), moderate (21.7%), severe (56.5%) and un- bearable (13%) before the operation and decreased to none (43.5%), mild (43.5%), moderate (4.3%) and severe (8.7%) after the operation (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: In symptomatic cases with ovarian endometrioma, without sign and symptoms of DIE, laparoscopic removal of the cysts with/without ablation of the peritoneal endometriotic lesions yields relief of NCPP and cyclic dysmenorrhea, but not dyspareunia.

Low molecular weight heparin use in unexplained recurrent miscarriage.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate whether the use of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) improve live birth rates when compared with control group in patients with unexplained recurrent miscarriages (URM). METHODS: In this prospective observational study 150 women with a history of two or more previous unexplained first trimester pregnancy loss who received LMWH; either enoxaparin (n=50), tinzaparin (n=50) or nothing (n=50) were followed for the pregnancy outcome measures. Only the patients who have used standardized dosage of LMWH (4000 IU/day enoxaparin or 3500 IU/day tinzaparin ) were included to the study. The primary end point was the live birth rate and secondary end points were the side effects, late pregnancy complications and neonatal outcome in the study cohorts. RESULTS: Live birth was achieved 85% of the LMWH group and 66% of the control group (p=0.007). According to the subgroup analysis; live birth rates did not differ significantly between the enoxaparin and tinzaparin group (84% and 86%, respectively). Maternal and neonatal side effects were not statistically significant among the study participants. CONCLUSION: Thromboprophylaxis with LMWH resulted in a improved live-birth rate in patient with 2 or more consecutive unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss. Nevertheless these findings need to be confirmed in larger randomized trials.

Surgical Staging of Early Stage Endometrial Cancer: Comparison Between Laparotomy and Laparoscopy.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to compare the laparotomy (LT) and laparoscopy (LS) in patients who undergone surgical staging for early stage endometrium cancer. METHODS: Retrospective data were collected and analyzed for amount of intraoperative bleeding, complication rates, total resected and laterality specific number of lymph nodes and duration of operation in patients operated with either LT or LS. RESULTS: Seventy-nine stage I endometrium cancer patients were found to be eligible for the trial purposes: 58 (73.4%) treated by LT and 21 (26.6%) treated by LS. The number of lymph nodes was similar in LT (8.9 ± 5.3) and LS (9.2 ± 4.8) (P = 0.8). In LT group, there was no difference in the number of lymph nodes between the right and left sides (10 ± 5.8 and 8.7 ± 4.8 respectively, P = 0.19); in LS group, the number of lymph nodes resected from the right side was higher than the left side (9.8 ± 5 and 7 ± 3.5 respectively, P = 0.039). The amount of intraoperative bleeding and hospitalization period were significantly higher in LT group. Seventy-nine patients had a median follow-up of 30 months. The two groups were similar for disease-free survival (P = 0.46, log rank test). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference between the two methods in terms of number of total resected lymph nodes. In early stage endometrial carcinoma, LS has provided adequate staging and similar survival rates with LT.