The Detection Of Leptin Levels In Peritoneal Fluid Of Patients With Endometriosis

Objective: Leptin(LP) influences the proinflammatory immune responsesand has angiogenic activity in vitro and in vivo. The objective of this studywas to evaluate the peritoneal fluid (PF) levels of leptin in patients withendometriosis and compare them with a control group of patients withteratoma of ovray.Methods: In this observational, prospective controlled study, peritonealfluid from 72 women was obtained while they underwent laparoscopy. Wemeasured the concentration of leptin in the peritoneal fluid and compared thelevels among women who were divided into groups according to theirpost-surgical diagnosis. Forty- two patients were diagnosed withendometriosis (trial group), thirty with teratoma of ovray (control group).Levels of leptin were measured in the peritoneal fluid using commerciallyavailable, enzyme-linked imrnunosorbent assays (ELISA).Results:1. Comparison of the levels of LP in trial group and control group.The level of LP in trial group is 38.34±8.17ng/ml and the level of LP incontrol group is 19.41±6.43ng/ml. The index of trial group is higher than that of control group (P＜0.01).2. Comparison of the levels of LP in PF of patients with endometriosis atearly stage and advanced stage.The LP in PF of cases at early stage is 42.78±5.69ng/ml and that of casesat advancedstage is 30.51±7.37ng/ml. There is significant difference betweenthe two (P＜0.05). PF leptin levels are inversely correlated with extent ofdisease (r=-0.417, P＜0.01).3. Comparison of the levels of LP in PF of cases with superficialperitoneal endometriosis and endometriomas.The LP in PF of cases with superficial peritoneal endometriosis is45.59±6.15ng/ml and that of cases with endometriomas is 30.27±5.33ng/ml.There is significant difference between the two (P＜0.05).4. PF leptin levels are positively correlated with chronic pelvic pain inendometriosis patients (r=0.387, P＜0.01)Conclusion:1. In this study, the level of LP in patients with EM is higher than that incontrol group, which prompts that LP could take part in the pathology of EM;the level of LP of cases at early stage is higher than that of cases at advancedstage, which prompts that LP could play more important part at early stage ofEM; the level of LP in patients with superficial peritoneal endometriosis ishigher than that of cases with endometriomas, which prompts that LP could participate in the pathogenetic process through immune abnormality andangiogenesis and play an important part in early stage of the disease.2. We confirmed that the level of LP of endometriosis with chronic pelvicpain is higher than that of cases without chronic pelvic pain, which promptsthat LP may play a certain role in causing chronic pelvic pain in patients withendometriosis through immune abnormality.