Endocrine Abstracts

Endometriotic tissues express oestrogen receptors and depend on oestrogen to proliferate, survive and cause symptoms, such as deep neuropathic pain, by recruiting neurones into the tissue. Raloxifene is an anti-oestrogen and so may prevent many of these effects and although the effect of raloxifene on endometriosis has not been directly assessed, low-dose use in a recent trial has been associated with a rapid return of pain symptoms. In this pilot study, pre-menopausal women w...

Adenomyosis is an oestrogen-dependent uterine disease where ectopic, non-neoplastic endometrium is histologically observed within the myometrium. Its incidence ranges between 5 and 70% and although presenting symptoms; menorrhagia (40–50%), dysmenorrhoea (10–30%) and metrorrhagia (10–12%) are well known, its aetiopathology remains unclear. The neurotrophin, nerve growth factor (NGF), has been implicated in the aetiopathology of adenomyosis, especially in the tam...