Diana Vasiljevaitė¹, Erika Jurkutė¹, Simona Abraitytė¹

¹Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Academy of Medicine. Faculty of Medicine.

ABSTRACT

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is affecting from 5 to 20% of reproductive age women and is one of the most common reasons of infertility. PCOS may increase risk of obstetric complications, as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, also has negative effect on women’s cardiac, endocrine systems and is associated with higher risk of depression and even can be the cause of ovarian or endometrial cancer. These women usually are overweight, have skin problems, such acne or hirsutism, and menstruation irregularity. Sometimes PCOS can be diagnosed only in complications time. According to this, it is very important to recognize PCOS and start complex treatment immediately.

First of all, PCOS management begins with lifestyle changes (exercise and healthy diet). For women, who are not planning pregnancy, first choice medical treatment is oral combined contraceptive pills, which needs to be prescribed individually. For those women, who are trying to become mothers, ovulation stimulation is recommended first. Laparoscopic surgery may also be done. One last step is assisted fertilization. Last but not the least, it is very important to adjust weight and treat insulin resistance in order to get better results.

Keywords: polycystic ovary syndrome, hyperandrogenism, contraceptives, infertility.