A CONTRACEPTIVE device has been adapted to treat a form of cancer of the uterus, avoiding the need for surgery.
Women with endometrial cancer, which affects the lining of the uterus, usually have to have a hysterectomy. Hormone pills may be offered instead, but this can lead to side effects such as nausea, headache and abnormal bleeding.
Lucas Minig, now at the in Spain, used a hormone-releasing intrauterine device (IUD) to treat 14 women with endometrial cancer (EC) and 20 with atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) 鈥� a precursor of EC. The IUD releases a synthetic form of progesterone, thought to cause cell death at high doses. 鈥淏y acting directly on the tumour, it avoids painful side effects,鈥� Minig says. The women also received monthly injections of GnRH, a hormone which halts the production of oestrogen, thought to stimulate tumour growth.
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鈥淭he IUD acts directly on the tumour and avoids the side effects seen with oral hormone therapy鈥�
After a year, eight of the women with EC and all but one of those with AEH were cancer-free. Of these 27 women, nine went on to bear children (Annals of Oncology, ).
