Abstract
Objective
Endometriosis is a chronic oestrogen-dependent gynaecological disorder, the most common
symptom of which is pain. Inflammation can be considered one of the major causes of
pain in endometriosis. In particular, degranulating mast cells have been found in
significantly greater quantities in endometriotic lesions than in unaffected tissues.
The increase in activated and degranulating mast cells is closely associated with
nerve structures in painful endometriotic lesions. These observations indicate that
inflammation due to mast cells may contribute to the development of pain and hyperalgesia
in endometriosis. Controlling mast-cell activation may therefore relieve the pain
associated with endometriotic lesions.
Study design
Four patients presenting an endometriosis-related pain intensity ≥5 (visual analogue
scale for pain, or VAS) were enrolled and monitored during 3 months of the following
treatment: oral palmitoylethanolamide 400 mg and polydatin 40 mg, twice daily for 90 days. Deep dyspareunia, dyschezia, dysuria, dysmenorrhoea and
analgesic drug use during the 3-month follow-up period were also monitored, with the
aim of demonstrating a reliable reduction in chronic pelvic pain.
Results
The preliminary results indicate that all patients enrolled experienced pain relief
as early as 1 month after starting treatment. Furthermore, a reduction in the analgesic
drugs usually employed for pain control was observed in all subjects treated. Additionally,
some improvements in endometriotic lesions seemed to be demonstrated by imaging.
Conclusions
The palmitoylethanolamide–polydatin combination seems to be very useful in controlling
chronic pelvic pain associated with endometriosis. As a result of these findings we
have initiated a multi-centre pilot study to verify the effectiveness of this treatment
in controlling the chronic pelvic pain associated with endometriosis.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 11, 2010
Accepted:
January 26,
2010
Received in revised form:
January 25,
2010
Received:
July 2,
2009
Footnotes
☆The study was carried out at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit, ULSS 17 – Veneto, Monselice (Padova), Italy.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
