LAUSR

Spironolactone (SPL) was developed 60 years ago as a diuretic and the benefits of SPL on the cardiovascular system have recently been demonstrated (Cranston and Juel-Jensen 1962; Agarwal et al. 2019). Adenomyosis causes dysmenorrhoea, pelvic pain, infertility, and heavy menstrual bleeding; thus, it can reduce patients’ quality of life both physically and mentally. It often occurs prior to menopause with patients requiring long-term management until they reach menopause. Treatments include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), low-dose oestrogen and progestin combination (LEP), dienogest (DNG), and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues (Schindler 2008; Khan et al. 2010; Badawy et al. 2012; Osuga et al. 2017). Hormone therapy, which includes LEP, may cause more adverse side effects – such as thrombosis – while DNG and GnRH analogues may cause oestrogen deficiency symptoms. Although SPL is reported to have therapeutic effects on premenstrual syndrome (Burnet et al. 1991; Wang et al. 1995), no published report has described the effect of SPL treatment on dysmenorrhoea. We believe this is the first report to describe an improvement in dysmenorrhoea and menorrhagia in a patient with adenomyosis after SPL administration.