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Venous endothelial function in postmenopausal women after six months of tibolone therapy
C Ceballos1, C Ribes, J A Amado
1Department of Gynecology, Hospital Universitario M. de Valdecilla, University of Cantabria, Santander 39008, Spain.
Study Objective:
To test venous endothelial function in long-term climateric therapy with tibolone.
Design:
Measurement of dorsal hand-vein diameter by venous occlusion plethysmography during infusion of norepinephrine (NE), bradykinin (BK), NG-monomethyl L-arginine (L-NMMA) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP).
Setting:
Plethysmography and Menopause Units. University Hospital Valdecilla. Santander. Spain.
Patients:
Eleven postmenopausal women having continuous treatment with oral tibolone (2.5 mg/day) for 6 months.
Interventions:
Three plethysmography studies were made: at baseline, and at three and six months of treatment.
Main Outcome Measures:
Dorsal hand-vein diameter measured by venous occlusion plethysmography during infusion of NE, BK, L-NMMA and SNP.
Results:
(a) Baseline study: maximum dilation with BK was 54.2+/-10.2%. (b) Three-month study: BK dilation of 71.5+/-11.9%, with a significant increase of 17.3% (P=0.019) compared with baseline. (c) Six-month study: BK dilation of 77.5+/-11.9%, with a significant increase 23.3% (P=0.002) compared with baseline. Maximal vasodilation was reached with SNP in the three studies and L-NMMA infusion has a similar vasoconstrictor response in the three studies.
Conclusions:
Long-term climateric therapy with tibolone improves vein endothelium-dependent vasodilation suggesting a positive impact of this drug on endothelial function.