Background: To explore the prognostic role of ovarian endometriosis in symptomatic adenomyosis patients underwent uterine artery embolization (UAE).
Methods: This was a retrospective, single-center study. A total of 76 patients with adenomyosis who underwent UAE in The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between May 2009 and July 2016 were enrolled in this study. These patients were divided into two groups based on whether complicated with ovarian endometriosis. After UAE, the patients were followed up for 12 months. The improvements of dysmenorrhea and menorrhagia were evaluated according to the symptom relief criteria. The improvement rates in both groups were analyzed and compared.
Results: Among the 76 patients with adenomyosis, 17 (22.3%) were diagnosed with OE and 59 (77.6%) were non-OE. In the OE group, all patients (17/17, 100%) had dysmenorrhea and 11 (11/17, 64.7%) had menorrhagia. In non-OE group, 57 patients (57/59, 96.6%) had dysmenorrhea and 50 (50/59, 84.7%) had menorrhagia. The improvement rates of dysmenorrhea in the two groups were 47.1% (OE group) and 86.0% (non-OE group), respectively (P<0.05). The improvement rates of menorrhagia in the two groups were 63.6% (OE group) and 84.0% (non-OE group), respectively (P=0.263).
Conclusions: Patients without OE showed a lower incidence of dysmenorrhea and may have an advantage in the improvement of dysmenorrhea compared with those with OE when they underwent UAE. However, no significant difference was observed in the improvement of menorrhagia.
Keywords: Adenomyosis; dysmenorrhea; menorrhagia; ovarian endometriosis; uterine artery embolization (UAE).