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Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on Endometriosis-Related Pain, Size Reduction of Ovarian Endometriomas, and Fertility Outcomes
Background: Endometriosis is a chronic, estrogen-dependent, inflammatory disease, whose pivotal symptoms are dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, and chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Besides the usual medical treatments, recent evidence suggests there are potential benefits of oral N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on endomet...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10048621/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36981595 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064686 |
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author | Anastasi, Emanuela Scaramuzzino, Sara Viscardi, Maria Federica Viggiani, Valentina Piccioni, Maria Grazia Cacciamani, Laura Merlino, Lucia Angeloni, Antonio Muzii, Ludovico Porpora, Maria Grazia |
author_facet | Anastasi, Emanuela Scaramuzzino, Sara Viscardi, Maria Federica Viggiani, Valentina Piccioni, Maria Grazia Cacciamani, Laura Merlino, Lucia Angeloni, Antonio Muzii, Ludovico Porpora, Maria Grazia |
author_sort | Anastasi, Emanuela |
collection | PubMed |
description | Background: Endometriosis is a chronic, estrogen-dependent, inflammatory disease, whose pivotal symptoms are dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, and chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Besides the usual medical treatments, recent evidence suggests there are potential benefits of oral N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on endometriotic lesions and pain. The primary objective of this prospective single-cohort study was to confirm the effectiveness of NAC in reducing endometriosis-related pain and the size of ovarian endometriomas. The secondary objective was to assess if NAC may play a role in improving fertility and reducing the Ca125 serum levels. Methods: Patients aged between 18–45 years old with a clinical/histological diagnosis of endometriosis and no current hormonal treatment or pregnancy were included in the study. All patients received quarterly oral NAC 600 mg, 3 tablets/day for 3 consecutive days of the week for 3 months. At baseline and after 3 months, dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and CPP were assessed using the Visual Analog Scale score (VAS), while the size of the endometriomas was estimated through a transvaginal ultrasound. Analgesics (NSAIDs) intake, the serum levels of Ca125 and the desire for pregnancy were also investigated. Finally, the pregnancy rate of patients with reproductive desire was evaluated. Results: One hundred and twenty patients were recruited. The intensity of dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and CPP significantly improved (p < 0.0001). The use of NSAIDs (p = 0.001), the size of the endometriomas (p < 0.0001) and the serum levels of Ca125 (p < 0.0001) significantly decreased. Among the 52 patients with reproductive desire, 39 successfully achieved pregnancy within 6 months of starting therapy (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Oral NAC improves endometriosis-related pain and the size of endometriomas. Furthermore, it decreases Ca125 serum levels and may improve fertility in patients with endometriosis. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10048621 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-100486212023-03-29 Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on Endometriosis-Related Pain, Size Reduction of Ovarian Endometriomas, and Fertility Outcomes Anastasi, Emanuela Scaramuzzino, Sara Viscardi, Maria Federica Viggiani, Valentina Piccioni, Maria Grazia Cacciamani, Laura Merlino, Lucia Angeloni, Antonio Muzii, Ludovico Porpora, Maria Grazia Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Endometriosis is a chronic, estrogen-dependent, inflammatory disease, whose pivotal symptoms are dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, and chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Besides the usual medical treatments, recent evidence suggests there are potential benefits of oral N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on endometriotic lesions and pain. The primary objective of this prospective single-cohort study was to confirm the effectiveness of NAC in reducing endometriosis-related pain and the size of ovarian endometriomas. The secondary objective was to assess if NAC may play a role in improving fertility and reducing the Ca125 serum levels. Methods: Patients aged between 18–45 years old with a clinical/histological diagnosis of endometriosis and no current hormonal treatment or pregnancy were included in the study. All patients received quarterly oral NAC 600 mg, 3 tablets/day for 3 consecutive days of the week for 3 months. At baseline and after 3 months, dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and CPP were assessed using the Visual Analog Scale score (VAS), while the size of the endometriomas was estimated through a transvaginal ultrasound. Analgesics (NSAIDs) intake, the serum levels of Ca125 and the desire for pregnancy were also investigated. Finally, the pregnancy rate of patients with reproductive desire was evaluated. Results: One hundred and twenty patients were recruited. The intensity of dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and CPP significantly improved (p < 0.0001). The use of NSAIDs (p = 0.001), the size of the endometriomas (p < 0.0001) and the serum levels of Ca125 (p < 0.0001) significantly decreased. Among the 52 patients with reproductive desire, 39 successfully achieved pregnancy within 6 months of starting therapy (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Oral NAC improves endometriosis-related pain and the size of endometriomas. Furthermore, it decreases Ca125 serum levels and may improve fertility in patients with endometriosis. MDPI 2023-03-07 /pmc/articles/PMC10048621/ /pubmed/36981595 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064686 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Anastasi, Emanuela Scaramuzzino, Sara Viscardi, Maria Federica Viggiani, Valentina Piccioni, Maria Grazia Cacciamani, Laura Merlino, Lucia Angeloni, Antonio Muzii, Ludovico Porpora, Maria Grazia Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on Endometriosis-Related Pain, Size Reduction of Ovarian Endometriomas, and Fertility Outcomes |
title | Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on Endometriosis-Related Pain, Size Reduction of Ovarian Endometriomas, and Fertility Outcomes |
title_full | Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on Endometriosis-Related Pain, Size Reduction of Ovarian Endometriomas, and Fertility Outcomes |
title_fullStr | Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on Endometriosis-Related Pain, Size Reduction of Ovarian Endometriomas, and Fertility Outcomes |
title_full_unstemmed | Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on Endometriosis-Related Pain, Size Reduction of Ovarian Endometriomas, and Fertility Outcomes |
title_short | Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on Endometriosis-Related Pain, Size Reduction of Ovarian Endometriomas, and Fertility Outcomes |
title_sort | efficacy of n-acetylcysteine on endometriosis-related pain, size reduction of ovarian endometriomas, and fertility outcomes |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10048621/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36981595 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064686 |
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