Single or repeated gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist treatment avoids hysterectomy in premenopausal women with large symptomatic fibroids with no effects on sexual function.

AIM: The aim of our study was to explore the effects on symptoms and female sexual function of the medical management with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) in women of more than 45 years old compared to surgical management. METHODS: Women with symptomatic uterine fibroids were enrolled to participate to the present open-label study. We offered two different treatment options: medical with GnRHa for 6 months (group A) or hysterectomy (group B). The patients were reviewed in follow-up for 24 months. The impact of medical or surgical therapy on sexual life was evaluated. RESULTS: No significant differences were found in population characteristics between the two groups. GnRHa treatment was efficient in reducing symptoms in 88% of patients but 22% of patients needed adjunctive cycles of medical therapy. After 24 months, 16% of the patients did not complete the study. The failure percentage of the medical treatment was 12%. No severe side-effects were recorded, and eight patients had reached menopause. No significant differences were observed in the Female Sexual Function Index score in each domain between the medical and surgical groups, with total scores of 18.94 ± 10.16 and 22.00 ± 8.86, respectively (mean ± standard deviation), and the prevalence of dysfunction was 12% and 22%, respectively, similar to the general population of the same age. CONCLUSION: We found that medical therapy with GnRHa is a satisfactory alternative to surgery for fibroids in women of more than 45 years old.

Clinical significance of microinvasion in borderline ovarian tumors and its impact on surgical management.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to evaluate the rate of recurrences in borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) with microinvasion and to evaluate the possibility to enlarge fertility-sparing surgery in this group of patients. METHODS: Between 1985 and 2010, 209 patients with BOTs were retrospectively divided into 2 groups: group 1 consisted of 28 women with microinvasive BOTs; group 2 consisted of 181 with BOTs without microinvasion. All of the patients were submitted to surgical treatment: in group 1, 10 patients underwent cystectomy (CYS), 11 patients underwent monolateral salpingo-oophorectomy (MSO), and 7 patients underwent bilateral oophorectomy with or without total hysterectomy (BSO); in group 2, 34 patients underwent CYS, 58 patients underwent MSO, and 89 patients underwent BSO. Specific prognostic factors such as stage, surgical approach, intraoperative spillage, histology, exophytic tumor growth, and endosalpingiosis were analyzed. Tumor recurrence rate and overall and disease-free survivals were evaluated. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 53 months, relapses occurred in 21.4% of the cases in group 1 and in 12.7% of the cases in group 2 (P = 0.21). The prognostic factors had no significant differences in the 2 groups. Relapses after CYS, MSO, and BSO were observed in 30%, 27.3%, and 0%, respectively, in group 1 and in 29.4%, 12.1%, and 6.7%, respectively, in group 2. Progression-free survival was significantly longer in BOTs compared to microinvasive BOTs (P = 0.041), but overall survival did not differ. CONCLUSIONS: Although exploratory, our data suggest that BOTs with microinvasion present earlier relapses, but overall incidence of relapses and overall survival do not differ significantly from BOTs without microinvasion. Fertility-sparing surgery is feasible in this group of patients, but strict follow-up has to be suggested.