Does metformin affect ovarian morphology in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome? A retrospective cross-sectional preliminary analysis

doi:10.1186/1757-2215-2-5

Journal of Ovarian Research

Volume 2

Viewing options:

Abstract
Full text
PDF (258KB)

Associated material:

Related literature:

Articles citing this article
on Google Scholar
on PubMed Central
Other articles by authors
on Google Scholar

Falbo A
Orio F
Venturella R
Rania E
Materazzo C
Tolino A
Zullo F
Palomba S

on PubMed

Falbo A
Orio F
Venturella R
Rania E
Materazzo C
Tolino A
Zullo F
Palomba S
Related articles/pages
on Google

on Google Scholar

on PubMed

Tools:

Post to:

Research

Does metformin affect ovarian morphology in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome? A retrospective cross-sectional preliminary analysis

Angela Falbo¹ , Francesco Orio² , Roberta Venturella¹ , Erika Rania¹ , Caterina Materazzo¹ , Achille Tolino³ , Fulvio Zullo¹ and Stefano Palomba¹

¹Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University "Magna Graecia" of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy

²Endocrinology, University "Parthenope" of Naples, Naples, Italy

³University "Federico II" of Naples, Naples, Italy

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Ovarian Research 2009, 2:5doi:10.1186/1757-2215-2-5


Published:	31 May 2009

Abstract

Background

The significance of polycystic ovarian morphology and its relation to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is unclear, but probably it is associated with higher androgen and insulin levels and lower sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in absence of identifiable differences in gonadotropin dynamics. The aim of this study was to evaluate ovarian morphology in patients affected by PCOS with different ovulatory responses to metformin.

Methods

In this cross-sectional analysis, we studied 20 young normal-weight PCOS patients who had received a six-month course of metformin treatment. Ten of these patients remained anovulatory (anovulatory group), whereas other ten became ovulatory, but failed to conceive (ovulatory group). Other ten age- and body mass index (BMI)-matched PCOS subjects were also enrolled as controls and observed without any treatment (control group).

Results

After six months of metformin, in both PCOS treated groups, a similar improvement in testosterone (T) and insulin resistance indexes was observed. Moreover, in one (10.0%) and nine (90.0%) subjects from anovulatory and ovulatory PCOS groups, respectively, ovarian morphology changed, whereas a significant reduction in ovarian dimension was observed in the PCOS ovulatory group only.

Conclusion

PCOS patients under metformin administration demonstrate a change in ovarian morphology closely related to ovulatory response.