Systematic review reveals substantial rates of residual pain and symptom recurrence in women receiving medical therapy for endometriosis, indicating limited long-term benefits.
Key Points
To evaluate patient response, treatment failure, and symptom recurrence rates following medical therapy for endometriosis-associated pain.
Conducted a systematic review of studies indexed in Medline and Embase evaluating medical therapies for endometriosis-associated pain.
Identified 58 eligible articles representing 125 treatment arms with median study durations ranging from 2 to 24 months.
A median of 11% to 19% of patients experienced no pain reduction, and 5% to 59% had persistent pain remaining at the end of the treatment period.
Pain symptoms recurred in 17% to 34% of patients after treatment cessation, while 5% to 16% discontinued therapy due to adverse events or lack of efficacy.