What is progestin?

Progestin is a synthetic hormone similar to naturally occurring progesterone. It has a number of pharmaceutical applications, but is most often used for contraception or hormone substitution therapy. There are many different forms of progestin, including medroxyprogesterone, norethynodrel and levonorgestrel.

In contraception, progestin can be paired with estrogen, while in hormone substitution therapy is used to balance estrogen replacement to prevent medical complications. Progestin is also used to treat uterus disorders, including amenoreu or abnormal lack of menstruation, dysfunctional uterine bleeding and endometriosis, in which cells similar to the limiting interior of the uterus grow outside the uterus, causing pain and often hard. In addition, it can help alleviate the symptoms of endometrial cancer or uterine lining, kidneys, breast and prostate. Progestins are also sometimes used to support the mother hormonal output in in-improving and prevent premature birth or abortion in women withby a history of both conditions. However, progesterone is often used for such applications instead of progestin.

Progestin was created to offer the advantages of progesterone therapy without its disadvantages. When a woman is pregnant, her body releases progesterone, which prevents her from ovulating. The hormone is therefore an effective form of contraception, as the body can make it think that it is pregnant and prevent ovulation. However, progesterone has low biological availability when used orally, which means that the body does not absorb it well. If the hormone is injected, the problem of biological availability has been bypassed, but progesterone tends to cause irritation at the injection site.

Progestin is much more effective than progesterone when used orally. The first progestin, Ethisterone, was synthesized in 1938 by Hans Herloff Inhoffen and many other versions were to follow. The first oral contraceptive, enovid, contained asthe active ingredient of the Norethynodrel. A year later, it was approved as a contraceptive by the United States in 1960 and the United Kingdom a year later. Before 1960, Enovid and similar hormonal treatment were used only for menstrual disorders.

In hormone substitution therapy, which alleviates the symptoms associated with reduced hormonal performance of the body during menopause, progestins are used to balance estrogen substitutes. If estrogen is used by itself, complications, including abnormal proliferation of endometrial cells may occur, a condition called endometrial hyperplasia. If it is not treated, this can lead to endometrial cancer.