Blood flow variations in internal carotid and middle cerebral arteries induced by postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy.

Objective: Our purpose was to clarify the mechanisms by which postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy exerts its protective effect on cardiovascular risk.

Study Design: By means of a bidirectional Doppler ultrasonographic system we measured pulsatility index variations the internal carotid artery and middle cerebral artery in 25 early postmenopausal women during a 6-month period of hormone replacement therapy. Transdermal estradiol (50 micrograms/day) was continuously administered.

[Substitution estrogen therapy in the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases. Results of long-term therapy].

In the present report, the current approach to the prevention of metabolic damage deriving from oestrogen deficiency involves the use of protocols that vary in the type of hormone employed and the mode of its administration. A homogenous group of 28 postmenopausal women was treated with natural conjugates oestrogen (0.625 mg per diem per os) on a continuous basis plus MAP (10 mg per diem per os) for 12 days a month.

Short- and long-term effects of hormone replacement therapy (transdermal estradiol vs oral conjugated equine estrogens, combined with medroxyprogesterone acetate) on blood coagulation factors in postmenopausal women.

We compared the effects on hemostatic variables of transdermal estradiol and oral equine conjugated estrogens (CEE), both combined with medroxyprogesterone acetate, in 40 postmenopausal women, 22 randomly allocated to transdermal estradiol and 18 to CEE. Antithrombin III (AtIII), fibrinogen, factor VII, factor VIII and tissue plasminogen activator before and after venous stasis were measured at the start of therapy and after two and four months in all patients, and after 12 months in a subgroup of 21 patients (12 from the estradiol and nine from the CEE group). In the short-term study (two and four months), analysis of variance did not reveal any significant difference between treatments for any of the hemostatic variables.

Gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist therapy and its effect on bone mass.

The effects on bone mass of a 6 month therapeutic cycle with a gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) were studied in 22 patients, ten affected by pelvic endometriosis and 12 by uterine fibroids. All patients were subjected to preliminary full examinations to confirm their diagnosis (laparoscopy for the endometriosis group and precise ultrasound volume measurements for uterine fibroids group). Before the beginning of treatment, bone mineral density (BMD) was measured in each patient both on the distal third of the forearm, with single-photon absorptiometry, and on the lumbar spine (L1-L4), with dual photon absorptiometry.

Cyclic hormonal replacement therapy after the menopause: transdermal versus oral treatment.

In an open, randomized, comparative, between-patient trial, 45 postmenopausal women were treated for 4 months with cyclical transdermal oestradiol 0.05 mg per day or oral conjugated equine oestrogens 0.625 mg per day, in both cases, plus, medroxyprogesterone acetate 10 mg per day on the last 8 days of each cycle.