A Rare Case of Idiopathic Pyometra in a Premenopausal Patient

Pyometra is a very uncommon disease principally occurring in postmenopausal women. It is characterized by the accumulation of purulent material within the uterine cavity. This paper presents the clinical history of a 35-year-old premenopausal woman with otherwise normal menstruation who developed heavy menstruation and was diagnosed with a benign pyometra of indeterminate etiology in March 2017. The patient underwent repeated ultrasound-guided drainage, dilation and curettage, and antibiotic therapy. Biopsies of the pelvic sidewall revealed endometriosis in June 2017. The heavy menstruation and suppurative fluid in the uterus of the patient persisted in which intramuscular leuprolide acetate was prescribed to address the endometriosis and heavy menstrual bleeding. Ultimately, the leuprolide acetate effectively resolved the patient's bleeding and pyometra. The medication was concluded after 12 months of supervision and the patient is currently symptom free. Pyometra is an unusual condition rarely identified in premenopausal women. Drainage and antibiotic therapy are routinely employed; however, one may consider gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist medication to potentially confer a beneficial patient outcome in rare cases where endometriosis and bleeding are intractable.

Causes of low peak bone mass in women

Peak bone mass is the maximum bone mass that accrues during growth and development. Consolidation of peak bone mass normally occurs during early adulthood. Low peak bone mass results from failure to achieve peak bone mass genetic potential, primarily due to bone loss caused by a variety of conditions or processes occurring at younger ages than usual. Recognized causes of low peak bone mass include genetic causes, endocrine disorders, nutritional disorders, chronic diseases of childhood or adolescence, medications, and idiopathic factors.

Standard of care and controversies in the adjuvant endocrine treatment of hormone-responsive early breast cancer

Hormone-responsive early breast cancer is a highly curable disease. In premenopausal women, tamoxifen (TAM) is still the standard treatment. Nowadays, up to 10 years of TAM can be safely administered, especially in women who remain premenopausal. Patients who are considered to be perimenopausal should be initially treated like premenopausal patients. Depending on their serum hormone levels, these patients can be safely switched to an aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy once the estradiol (E2) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels prove the established postmenopausal status. In postmenopausal women, several sequences of endocrine treatment are available. The AI therapy can be induced upfront or sequentially by switching from Tam to AI and vice versa. Extended endocrine therapy, by adding up to 5 years of letrozole after 5 years of TAM, has also been proven to be beneficial in certain patient subgroups. Genotyping of cytochromes such as CYP2D6 did not have any added value in identifying patients who are at higher risk of recurrence. Nevertheless, in all patients the side effects need to be given high consideration. New strategies developed to overcome endocrine resistance are tested in clinical studies. New co-administered drugs such as specific inhibitors of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Src, or phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) do improve endocrine responsiveness in metastatic disease and will eventually be introduced in the treatment of early breast cancer.