Endometriosis and Iodine

[Randy]

The US Goverment issued a patent which claims a cure for endometriosis by elemental Iodine within it it.

I would recomend everyone read the whole text of the patent.

United States Patent 5,589,198
December 31, 1996

Search for the patent by its number for the whole story. this is just the section on endometriosis

Iodine Treatment of Endometriosis

The present invention provides a method and composition for the treatment of endometriosis. Particularly, elemental iodine minimize the ovarian function and estrogen production to control endometriosis and alleviate its symptoms.

Endometriosis is characterized by hormonally responsive endometrial tissue implants in extra-uterine sites. The etiology of endometriosis is thought to be the transplantation of uterine lining cells through the fallopian tubes, the lymph channels and/or the blood stream to the abdominal cavity. Another suggested theory is that the peritoneum undergoes metaplasia to produce endometrial cells without direct access to cellular transplants. The transplanted or transformed islands of endometrial tissue act in a similar fashion to the uterine cells, with swelling and then bleeding at the time of menstruation.

Current treatment modalities for endometriosis are directed at the normal fluctuations of the estrogen/progesterone complex. Medications include birth control pills, masculinizing hormones such as danazol, or estrogen suppression drugs such as tamoxifen. In older age groups, total abdominal hysterectomy is the only therapy that is effective. All of the medical therapies are anti-estrogen.

It was found that the therapeutic treatment of human patients with an effective amount of elemental iodine (I.sub.2) in a pharmaceutical carrier caused a subsidence of the nodularity of the patient's pelvic peritoneum. An effective dose of elemental iodine (I.sub.2) to cause such a subsidence of nodularity is about 1 to 20 milligrams per day. A daily dosage of elemental iodine for the treatment of endometriosis of about 3 milligrams to about 6 milligrams is also useful. The daily dosage can be administered in an aqueous solution containing about 0.30 milligrams of elemental iodine per milliliter of solution.

One example of the daily dosage is based on the administration of about 0.01 to about 0.2 milligrams of elemental iodine per kilogram of patient body weight per day.