Dienogest, a new conservative strategy for extragenital endometriosis: a pilot study

Abstract

Extragenital endometriosis severely impairs the quality of life for affected women but its standard management has not yet been well established because of its relatively low incidence. As extragenital organs, intestine, followed by urinary tract, is the most common place affected by endometriosis, for which surgical treatment is sometimes difficult and accompanied by severe complications. Recently, dienogest, a novel progestin, has emerged as a new alternative for endometriosis, especially for endometriosis-associated pain. In this report, we presented four cases with rectosigmoidal and one with bladder endometriosis, treated with oral 2 mg/day dienogest for over 6 months. For all cases, the measurable extragenital lesions exhibited the reduction in their size after 10 to 11 months of use, accompanied with immediate relief of subjective symptoms related with extragenital lesions. This report suggests that dienogest can be a novel conservative alternative for extragenital endometriosis.

Keywords:

• Endometriosis
• extragenital endometriosis
• dienogest
• conservative therapy

Acknowledgements

The authors express appreciation to the members of the endometriosis clinic for their valuable comments.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.