Category

• Antiendometriotic agent
• Antineoplastic
• Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog
• Gonadotropin inhibitor

Description

Leuprolide (loo-PROE-lide) may be used for a number of different medical problems. These include treatment of:

• anemia caused by bleeding of uterine leiomyomas (tumors in the uterus);
• cancer of the prostate gland in men;
• central precocious puberty (CPP), a condition that causes early puberty in boys (before 9 years of age) and in girls (before 8 years of age);
• pain due to endometriosis in women.

Leuprolide is similar to a hormone normally released from the hypothalamus gland.

When given regularly to men and boys, leuprolide decreases testosterone levels. Reducing the amount of testosterone in the body is one way of treating cancer of the prostate.

When given regularly to women and girls, leuprolide decreases estrogen levels. Reducing the amount of estrogen in the body is one way of treating endometriosis. By shrinking tumors in the uterus, leuprolide helps stop anemia by decreasing the vaginal bleeding from these tumors. Iron supplements should be used to help treat the anemia.

When given to boys and girls experiencing early puberty, leuprolide slows down the development of the genital areas in both sexes and breast development in girls. This medicine delays puberty in a child only as long as the child continues to receive it.

Suppressing estrogen can cause thinning of the bones or slowing of their growth. This is a problem for adult women whose bones are no longer growing like the bones of children. Slowing the growth of bones is a positive effect in girls and boys whose bones grow too fast when puberty begins too early. Boys and girls may benefit by adding inches to their adult height when leuprolide helps their bones grow at the proper and expected rate for children.

Leuprolide is available only with your doctor's prescription, in the following dosage form:

Parenteral
• Injection (U.S. and Canada)
• Implant (U.S.)

Brand Names

Some commonly used brand names are:

In the U.S.—

• Lupron
• Lupron Depot
• Lupron Depot-Ped
• Lupron Depot-3 Month 11.25 mg
• Lupron Depot-3 Month 22.5 mg
• Lupron Depot-4 Month 30 mg
• Viadur

In Canada—

• Lupron
• Lupron Depot
• Lupron-3 Month SR Depot 22.5 mg

Another commonly used name is leuprorelin .