Acute damage to the digestive tract related to contraceptives
Chevrel, B.
Contraception Fertilite Sexualite 9(5): 317-322
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0301-861X PMID: 12310404 Document Number: 172378
Estroprogestational contraception is responsible for morphologic and physiologic changes on the hepatic cells, vascular walls, blood coagulation, and lipid metabolism; these changes, in turn, cause several problems, among which jaundice and cholestasis are the most common. Less common are peliosis, ischemic colitis and ulcerous colitis. Treatment of such accidents is surgical and urgent in all acute cases. Benign and malignant tumors are a rare occurrence. Thrombotic risk is strictly related to modifications in blood coagulation, and, when the liver is concerned, often lead to the Budd-Chiari syndrome. Much more serious, because irreversible, is intestinal infarctus, caused by arterial or by venous thrombosis. Abdominal pains during the first months of oral contraceptive use are often a sign of pancreatitis.