( S ) Few studies of medical therapies for endometriosis report outcomes that are relevant to patients , and many women gain only limited or intermittent benefit from treatment
OBJECTIVE To assess patient response rates to medical therapies used to treat endometriosis-associated pain .
The efficacy of drugs in the management of endometriosis.
STUDY OBJECTIVE To establish the crude effects of danazol and gonadotropin-releasing hormone ( GnRH ) analogs in the management of endometriosis .  DESIGN Prospect i ve case-control study . SETTING Unit of the Pathophysiology of Reproduction outpatient department . PATIENTS Two groups of 110 women each with endometriosis ( American Fertility Society score 1 - 3 ) who received danazol and GnRH analogs , and a control group who did not receive any drugs . INTERVENTIONS Women in the treatment groups received danazol 200 mg every 8 hours for 6 months , or a different GnRH agonist at st and ard dosages for 6 months . Laparoscopy was performed twice , at the time of diagnosis and just before the end of treatment ( or no therapy for controls ) . Surgical treatment of the implants was performed at the second laparoscopy . MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Sample s of both eutopic and ectopic endometrium were collected during both laparoscopies . Both danazol and GnRH agonists were useful in reducing the AFS scores to inactive endometriotic implants , and there were no significant differences between the effects ( p < 0.001 ) . Fibrosis was found after 6 months of observation in the implants in one control woman ( 0.9 % ) , in 20 patients ( 18.2 % ) treated with danazol ( p < 0.001 vs controls ) , and in 4 patients ( 3.6 % ) treated with GnRH agonists ( NS vs controls ) . A correlation between a clinical diagnosis of AFS score zero and histologic features of fibrosis in the ectopic specimens after therapies was observed in 28 % of women , with poor agreement ( k = 0.07 ) . CONCLUSIONS Fibrosis , which represent the absence of endometrial cells within the specimens of endometriotic lesions or eutopic endometrium , did not appear in eutopic endometria but it was found in some endometriotic implants . Danazol and GnRH agonists reduced the clinical AFS scores of endometriosis , but their histologic effects in completely and permanently eliminating endometriotic implants were unacceptable
( S ) Few studies of medical therapies for endometriosis report outcomes that are relevant to patients , and many women gain only limited or intermittent benefit from treatment
OBJECTIVE To assess patient response rates to medical therapies used to treat endometriosis-associated pain .