Monday, October 23. 2006
FAMILY PRACTICE NEWS March 15 2004 • Volume 34 • Number 6 Antioxidant Therapy Quickly Improves Endometriosis Pain Kate Johnson
Contributing Writer
SAN ANTONIO — Two months of high-dose vitamin E and C therapy was associated with significant improvement in endometriosis pain and a reduction in inflammatory markers in a study of 59 women.
“We didn't really expect that patients would actually report anything clinically after only 2 months, but it's really impressive. They are doing much better,” said Dr. Nino Kavtaradze, an ob.gyn. resident at Emory University in Atlanta.
The study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, included 59 women, aged 19-41, with pelvic pain and a history of endometriosis and/or infertility.
Inflammatory markers were measured in blood, which was drawn from all women at the beginning and end of the study, and in peritoneal fluid, which was collected by laparoscopy at the end of the study.
Pain levels were evaluated at baseline and then monthly during the study.
A total of 46 patients were given vitamin E (1,200 IU daily) and vitamin C (1,000 mg daily) for 2 months before undergoing laparoscopy; the remaining 13 patients received placebo.
“We have shown previously that endometriosis is characterized by signs of increased oxidative stress,” said Dr. Nalini Santanam, Ph.D., who led the investigation into inflammatory markers. “Inflammation can be induced by oxidative stress, so our theory was that antioxidants might reduce the inflammatory markers.
Indeed, at the end of the study, the levels of inflammatory markers in peritoneal fluid of women who received the vitamins were significantly lower than the levels in the placebo group.
Levels of inflammatory markers in plasma were the same in both groups, “suggesting that these markers are locally generated in the peritoneal cavity,” commented Dr. Santanam of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Emory.
In the vitamin group, 43% of the women reported an improvement in everyday pain, compared with none of the women in the placebo group. Thirty-seven percent of the vitamin group had decreased dysmenorrhea, compared with 36% of the placebo group, and 24% of the vitamin group had decreased dyspareunia compared with none of the placebo group.
“This is an exciting finding that such a simple and safe therapy might have such dramatic effects on endometriosis,” Dr. Santanam said.
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