The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception
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Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care · Jun 2001
Treatment of menorrhagia with a novel 'frameless' intrauterine levonorgestrel-releasing drug delivery system: a pilot study.
To evaluate the effect on menstrual blood loss of a novel 'frameless' intrauterine drug delivery system, the FibroPlant levonorgestrel intrauterine system (IUS), releasing 14 microg of levonorgestrel/day. An ancillary objective was to evaluate the contraceptive performance. ⋯ The FibroPlant levonorgestrel IUS is effective in significantly reducing the amount of menstrual blood loss in women with menorrhagia. Strong endometrial suppression is the principal mechanism explaining both the effect on menstrual blood loss and the contraceptive performance of the IUS. There were no differences in bleeding scores before and during treatment between the two groups of women with or without prior use of the copper IUD, suggesting that the development of heavy bleeding was not related to the use ofthe IUD. The therapeutic effect of this contraceptive method is highly desirable, particularly in women with heavy bleeding or anemia in developing countries, as other treatment modalities are less effective, more costly, more invasive or inaccessible. The low daily release rate of levonorgestrel from the FibroPlant levonorgestrel IUS results in a low incidence of hormonal side-effects and reduces the likelihood of amenorrhea. The simple design characteristics and revolutionary anchoring system minimize the occurrence of complaints of pain and the incidence of expulsion.