M. Wingfield et al., FOLLICULAR AND LUTEAL-PHASE SALIVARY PROGESTERONE PROFILES IN WOMEN WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS AND INFERTILITY, Gynecological endocrinology, 8(1), 1994, pp. 21-25
Twenty-three women with laparoscopically diagnosed early-stage endomet
riosis collected daily saliva samples at home and brought them to the
laboratory at the completion of each menstrual cycle. Levels of proges
terone in the saliva were determined by enzymeimmunoassay. Samples wer
e collected for three cycles by one patient, for two cycles by 15 pati
ents and for one cycle be seven women, resulting in a total of 40 cycl
es for analysis. Only 20 (50%) cycles were classified as normal. In 18
cycles (45%) progesterone levels exceeded the 95th percentile of the
normal range. These high levels occurred in the follicular phase only
in seven (18%) cycles, in the luteal phase only in eight (20%) and in
both follicular and luteal phases in three (7.5%) cycles. Three cycles
were anovulatory. One of these cycles also demonstrated elevated prog
esterone levels in the follicular phase and is therefore included in t
he 18 cycles mentioned above. We conclude that ovarian function is alt
ered in a significant number of infertile women with endometriosis. Ho
wever, these alterations are often subtle and only detected by detaile
d investigation.