Vitamin D plus epigallocatechin gallate: a novel promising approach for uterine myomas

G. Porcaro, A. Santamaria, D. Giordano, P. Angelozzi

Department of Obstetric and Gynecology, Hospital Santa Maria della Stella Orvieto USL Umbria 2, Orvieto, Italy. giusy.porcaro@gmail.com

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• Pharmacology

OBJECTIVE: Uterine myomas are the most common benign tumors in females. Most myomas are asymptomatic and require no intervention or further investigations; however, almost a third of women with myomas will require a therapy. Treatment options include pharmacological approaches or surgery, and depend on symptomatology, size, number and desire for future pregnancy. Minimally invasive procedures or alternative medical treatments for handling myomas are preferred, when possible, to the radical abdominal surgery. Vitamin D and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) recently proved effective in the management of these benign tumors. Our aim was to verify the effect of combined oral vitamin D and EGCG supplementation in symptomatic women with myomas.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Symptomatic women with myomas were enrolled in this pilot study and divided in two groups: one group treated daily with two tablets of 25 μg vitamin D + 150 mg EGCG + 5 mg vitamin B6, for 4 months; the other group received no treatment (control), for the same period. Volume, number of myomas as well as severity of symptoms (SS) and quality of life (QoL) were analyzed.

RESULTS: The total myoma volume significantly decreased by 34.7% in the treated group, whereas it increased by 6.9% in the control group. An improvement in the QoL of women treated with vitamin D, EGCG and vitamin B6 was reported along with a reduction of the SS.

CONCLUSIONS: The combined supplementation of vitamin D and EGCG seems to be an optimal approach for the management of myomas and correlated symptoms. For the first time, we showed the cooperative effectiveness as a promising and novel treatment for myomas.

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