title: Adolescent endometriosis-related pelvic pain treated with acupuncture: two case reports.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic pelvic pain in adolescents accounts for 10% of outpatient gynecology visits, and 70% of adolescent patients whose pelvic pain is unresponsive to initial therapy have endometriosis. To date, there has been no published research investigating the use of acupuncture for adolescents with chronic pelvic pain and/or endometriosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper presents two case reports describing the impact of a course of acupuncture on adolescent girls with endometriosis-related chronic pelvic pain of more than 1 year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both patients, undergoing between 9 and 15 treatments over a 7- to 12-week period, experienced modest improvement in pain as measured by oral self-reports of pain on a scale from 1 to 10, as well as self or family-reported improvement in headaches, nausea and fatigue. No adverse effects were reported.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These case reports provide preliminary evidence that acupuncture may be an acceptable and safe adjunct treatment therapy for some adolescents with endometriosis-related pelvic pain refractory to standard antiendometriosis therapies. These observations suggest that a prospective, randomized controlled trial of the safety and efficacy of acupuncture for this population may be warranted.
authors.affiliation: Integrative Therapies Team, Center for Families, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02215, USA. eshighfield@comcast.net
authors.forename: Ellen Silver
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Highfield
authors.forename: Marc R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Laufer
authors.forename: Rosa N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Schnyer
authors.forename: Catherine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: Phaedra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Wayne
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D000293:Adolescent; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome