What is Endometriosis?
Endometriosis, a chronic gynecological disease, is defined by the presence of a tissue similar to uterine endometrium, which is located in places other than Uterine cavity. The lesions can be peritoneal lesions, superficial implants or cysts on the ovary, or deep infiltrating disease
Endometriosis is a disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, causing pain and/or infertility
It causes a chronic inflammatory reaction that may result in the formation of scar tissue (adhesions, fibrosis) within the pelvis and other parts of the body. Several lesion types have been described
- superficial endometriosis found mainly on the pelvic peritoneum
- Cystic ovarian endometriosis (endometrioma/ chocolate cysts) found in the ovaries
- deep endometriosis found in the recto-vaginal septum, bladder, and bowel
- in rare cases, endometriosis has also been found outside the pelvis
What are the symptoms of Endometriosis?
- Chronic pelvic pain
- Chronic pelvic pain
- Pain during and/or after sexual intercourse
- Painful bowel movements
- Painful urination
- Depression or anxiety
- Abdominal bloating and nausea
- Difficulty in conception/ infertility
If you are suffering from any of the above symptoms it is high time to meet our expert Gynecologist team at Aarya Women’s Hospital.
How can Endometriosis be diagnosed?
- Symptoms + careful Physical examination
- Transvaginal sonography / mri can detect ovarian cyst /chocolate cyst
- Laparoscopy is the gold standard technique for confirmation of the diagnosis of endometriosis.
On laparoscopy the endometriosis lesions can be visible as Black patches or spots, Ovarian chocolate cysts of varying size, scarring and adhesions in pelvic cavity suggest deep infiltrating disease.
Current guidelines recommend that the histological examination of specimens collected from the suspicious areas during the visual inspection of the pelvis at laparoscopy is the gold standard for diagnosis of endometriosis.
What are the treatment options available?
- Medical management
- Hormonal therapy
- Surgical management
● Pain killers
● Oral contraceptive pills
● Progestogens
● GnRH agonist
● Mirena( hormonal releasing intrauterine device)
● Laparoscopic removal endometriosis cyst/ lesions.
● Laparoscopic ablation of lesions
Yes. Endometriosis being a hormone dependent situation can occur again even after complete removal of the disease. Though the chances are low the possibility or recurrence will always be there in cases where ovaries are in situ.
Severely painful period cycles are the most common manifestation of the disease
yes when the symptoms are not getting under control after medical management and hormonal therapy , laparoscopic removal of all endometrial deposits is the best treatment.