Evaluation of tumor necrosis factor-α and tumor necrosis factor-β in serum of patients with endometriosis

Objective To evaluate the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and tumor necrosis factor-β (TNF-β) before and after conservative laparoscopic surgery in patients with endometriosis. Methods The levels of TNF-α and TNF-β in the serum of both 82 patients with EMS and 68 controls were determined by ELISA. Results The levels of TNF-α and TNF-β in the serum of patients with EMS were significantly higher than those of the controls(P0.01), and they increased with the clinical terms(P0.05). After clearance of endometrosis foci with laparoscopic conservative surgery, the TNF-α levels decreased significantly in EMS Ⅲ～Ⅳ, and TNF-β levels decreased significantly in EMSⅠ～Ⅳ. Conclusion Measuring TNF-α and TNF-β levels in the serum of patients with EMS may have important value in postoperative follow-up, surveillance and evaluation of the effectiveness of the surgery.