title: The possible role of fluoxetine in adenomyosis: an animal experiment with clinical correlations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fluoxetine is a commonly prescribed drug which is used in the psychiatric practice and adenomyosis is a common medical problem in women of the reproductive age group.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the role of fluoxetine in the causation of adenomyosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Female Wistar rats (n=18) were divided into three groups (group I (the control), group II and group III) and they were treated with normal saline and oral fluoxetine (4mg/kg and 8 mg/kg) respectively for 100 days. Periodic serum prolactin measurements and histopathological examinations of the uterine horns of all the rats were done at the end. Comparison of the mean serum prolactin levels between the patients (n=15) who were diagnosed with adenomyosis, the healthy age sex matched controls and the female patients (n=20) who received fluoxetine for more than 3 months, before and after the fluoxetine administration, was done separately. Appropriate (paired or unpaired) t tests were used for the data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the 12 test group rats, 10 rats showed the features of adenomyosis histopathologically, along with significantly (p < 0.05) raised serum prolactin levels. The mean serum prolactin levels of the patients of adenomyosis in comparison to those of the controls and of the patients who were treated with fluoxetine (before and after the fluoxetine administration), were significantly high (p=0.001 in both the cases).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fluoxetine may have some role in the causation of adenomyosis; although for a stronger evidence, the follow-up of the patients who are treated with fluoxetine on a long term basis should be ideal.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, NRS Medical College , Kolkata, India .
authors.forename: Parama
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sengupta
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Gautameswar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mazumdar
authors.forename: Indranil
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: Santanu K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.forename: Chiranjib
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bagchi
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Das
keywords: Adenomyosis; Fluoxetine; Prolactin; Wistar Albino rats