Background/Aim: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of postoperative depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) versus postoperative continuous oral contraceptive (OC) pills in the treatment of endometriosis-associated pain. Methods: After a conservative surgery, 84 patients with symptomatic endometriosis were randomized to receive either intramuscular DMPA (150 mg) every 12 weeks for 24 weeks or continuous OC pills (ethinyl estradiol 0.03 mg and gestodene 0.075 mg) daily for 24 weeks. At weeks 12 and 24 of the treatment phase, patients rated their satisfaction with treatment and reported pain improvement and adverse effects. Results: There was no significant difference in the percentages of patients who reported satisfaction between the DMPA group and the OC group at weeks 12 and 24 (92.9 vs. 90.5%, and 92.9 vs. 88.1%, respectively). The rates of withdrawal because of persistent pain or side effects in the two groups were similar. Pain scores improved significantly in both groups, but dysmenorrhea scores on a visual analog scale at week 24 were significantly higher in the OC group than in the DMPA group (p = 0.039). Conclusion: Both postoperative DMPA and postoperative OC pills for 24 weeks were found to be effective and acceptable options for treating endometriosis-associated pain.

The patient was a 40-year-old woman with a 1-year history of catamenial chest pain and a recent bilateral hemothorax. She underwent a left thoracotomy for surgical pleurodesis, and a pleural biopsy. Subsequently, she had a hysterectomy in conjunction with an oophorectomy. The pathologic investigation of the pleura revealed an endometrial implant. The postoperative course was uneventful with no recurrence of hemothorax and chest pain during the first 6 months and at the patient's follow-up. This is a very rare case of a patient with thoracic endometriosis presenting with bilateral hemothorax.

Aim: To determine the optimal interval of injections of intramuscular depot medroxyprogesterone acetate 150 mg in the long-term treatment of endometriosis-associated pain. Method: 112 patients with symptomatic endometriosis were randomized to receive either injections every month for 6 months, then every 3 months for a total of 15 months or injections every 3 months for 15 months. The primary outcome measure was patients’ satisfaction. Result: At months 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 of the treatment phase, there was no statistically significant difference of percentages of patients with satisfaction between the two regimens (85.7 vs. 76.8%, 76.8 vs. 73.2%, 66.1 vs. 58.9%, 60.7 vs. 55.4%, 60.7 vs. 55.4%, respectively). Conclusion: The optimal interval of injections of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate 150 mg is every 3 months.

Objective: To compare human sperm motility, vitality and morphology after cryopreservation among sucrose, and different trehalose concentrations.Material and Methods: A total number of 124 normozoospermic semen samples were collected. Each semen sample was divided into 4 portions, and cryopreserved in a human sperm-preserving medium along with cryoprotectants, including; 50 milimolar (mM) trehalose, 100 mM trehalose, 200 mM trehalose and 50 mM sucrose, respectively. All semen samples were frozen by using a vapor phase method. Post-thawed sperm motility, vitality and morphology were assessed. R program was used for data analysis. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Post-thawed semen evaluation indicated that 50 mM trehalose was better than 50 mM sucrose in all sperm parameters, which included progressive motility (p-value=0.037, total motility (p-value<0.001), vitality (p-value<0.001) and morphology (p-value<0.001). The sperm parameters were not significantly different among 100 mM trehalose, 200 mM trehalose and 50 mM sucrose.Conclusion: The use of 50 mM trehalose, as non-permeating cryoprotectant, showed superior post-thaw sperm parameters over sucrose, and other trehalose concentrations.

Introduction: A few studies have explored the association of resting heart rate (RHR) with mortality and/or other oncological outcomes in patients with specific cancers such as breast, colorectal, and lung cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the association between the RHR and oncological outcomes in patients with early-stage cervical cancer (CC) who underwent radical surgical resection. Methods: We included 622 patients with early-stage CC (stage IA2–IB1). The patients were divided into four groups based on the RHR as follows: quartile 1, ≤ 64; quartile 2, 65–70; quartile 3, 71–76; and quartile 4, >76 beats per min [bpm], with the lowest quartile being the reference group. We evaluated the associations of the RHR and clinicopathological features with oncological outcomes using Cox proportional-hazards regression. Results: There were clear among-group differences. Further, there was a significant positive correlation of RHR with tumor size and deep stromal invasion. Multivariate analysis revealed that RHR was an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Compared with patients with an RHR ≤ 70 bpm, those with an RHR of 71–76 bpm had a 1.84- and 3.05-times higher likelihood of DFS (p = 0.016) and OS (p = 0.030), respectively, while those with RHR > 76 bpm had a 2.20-times higher likelihood of DFS (p = 0.016). Conclusion: This is the first study to demonstrate that RHR may be an independent prognostic factor for oncological outcomes in patients with CC.