Italian multicenter study on complications of laparoscopic myomectomy.

Study Objective: To study intraoperative and postoperative complications of laparoscopic myomectomy and patients' characteristics influencing this risk.

Design: Prospective study, with a review of the patient records by the first author (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).

Setting: Four Italian referral centers.

Use of naltrexone in postmenopausal women with exaggerated insulin secretion: a pilot study.

Objective: To determine the effect of naltrexone (an opiate receptor blocker) on insulin metabolism in postmenopausal women with different insulinemic patterns.

Design: Randomized placebo-controlled study.

Setting: Academic research environment.

Naloxone decreases insulin secretion in hyperinsulinemic postmenopausal women and may positively affect hormone replacement therapy.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of the opioid system on glyco-regulation in postmenopausal women before and after hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Design: Prospective nonrandomized clinical study.

Setting: Academic research environment.

The effect of raloxifene on glyco-insulinemic homeostasis in healthy postmenopausal women: a randomized placebo-controlled study.

The effect of raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator recently approved as a therapeutic agent for menopause, on glyco-insulinemic metabolism was investigated in 40 healthy postmenopausal women. At the baseline and after 12 wk of raloxifene (60 mg/d) or placebo administration, all aspects of glucose metabolism were evaluated in each subject using both an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT; 75 g) and a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp to assess peripheral insulin sensitivity. Glucose, insulin, and C-peptide, measured in fasting conditions, as well as glucose and insulin responses to OGTT [expressed as area under curve (AUC)] were not modified by raloxifene, whereas C-peptide-AUC increased significantly (P < 0.

Estrogen treatment and body fat distribution are involved in corticotropin and cortisol response to corticotropin-releasing hormone in postmenopausal women.

To assess the effect of transdermal estrogen substitution on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responsiveness/sensitivity and the impact of the antrophometric characteristics on these parameters, 20 postmenopausal women seeking treatment for the relief of postemenopausal symptoms were studied. They received transdermal 50 microg/d estradiol for 12 weeks (estrogen replacement therapy [ERT]). Patients were classified as low waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (peripheral fat distribution women; n = 12) and high WHR (central fat distribution women; n = 8) according to the cut-off value of 0.