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May 2003 Health Benefits of Mirena® Five million women in more than 100 countries use Mirena for long-term, reversible contraception. Mirena is the intrauterine contraceptive system developed by the Population Council in cooperation with its International Committee for Contraception Research and the pharmaceutical company Leiras Oy (a subsidiary of Schering AG, recently renamed Schering Oy).For some time it has been thought that Mirena also is effective as a means of nonsurgical management of excessive menstrual bleeding, which can be burdensome, lead to anemia, or require surgery, including hysterectomy. Investigations by scientists in several countries in Europe and in China have found this benefit, and a recent study by Population Council researcher Juan Díaz and his colleagues at Universidade Estadual in Campinas, Brazil, has confirmed Mirena’s efficacy in helping some women avoid surgery. The study, involving 44 women with heavy menstrual bleeding, found that six months after insertion of Mirena, 35 of the women had significant reduction of both blood loss and anemia without resorting to surgery. Investigators seeking to identify the physiological basis of Mirena’s ability to moderate menstrual bleeding have theorized that the progestin hormone it releases, levonorgestrel, may trigger a normal cellular mechanism called apoptosis, causing the lining of the uterus to thin, lessening blood loss. Progestins such as levonorgestrel are known to decrease the thickness of the endometrium (the internal layer of the uterus). The local release of this progestin induces cellular changes in the tissue, which then becomes thinner. The Mirena intrauterine system, which provides five years of contraceptive protection, was introduced in the United States in 2001 by Berlex Laboratories, another Schering AG subsidiary. It has been available for use as a contraceptive in Europe since 1990. See Also
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