Effectiveness and mechanism of action of desmopressin in the treatment of copper intrauterine device-related menorrhagia: a pilot study

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Copper (Supplement) and Vasopressin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the effect of vasopressin drug on menstrual blood loss and on changes, if any, in uterine flow impedance.

Why It Was Studied

Mefenamic acid, which is commonly used to treat IUD-related menorrhagia, was administered as a comparison.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, women only.

Twenty-four women with IUD-induced menorrhagia were recruited and randomly allocated to treatment with either desmopressin or mefenamic acid.

Menstrual blood loss (measured by pictorial blood loss assessment chart) and uterine artery resistance (measured with transvaginal colour Doppler) performed in two pretreatment periods were compared with 3-month treatment periods.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and pilot study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Copper (Supplement) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Copper (Supplement) study would be practical.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors, Deamino Arginine Vasopressin, Hemostatics, Intrauterine Devices, Copper, Mefenamic Acid, Menorrhagia and Pilot Projects.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and pilot study of Copper (Supplement) and Vasopressin.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2003 (Human reproduction (Oxford, England)), a journal based in England.

More context: the Copper (Supplement) compound page and the Vasopressin compound page, all human trials.