Current Insights and Future Advances in Endometriosis Diagnostics

Michèle Cioffi, María Teresa
In: Endometriosis - Basic Concepts and Current Research Trends · 2012 · doi:10.5772/30452 · W1507341320
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This review discusses the current understanding and future directions for diagnosing endometriosis, a benign gynecological condition characterized by ectopic endometrial tissue causing pain and infertility.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a benign gynaecological disease characterized by the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside the uterine cavity. This condition is mainly found in women of reproductive age, from all ethnic and social groups and it is associated with pelvic pain and infertility. Endometriosis is typically present in the pelvis such as on the ovaries and pelvic peritoneum, but may also involve the bowel, ureter or bladder. It regresses after menopause or ovariectomy, suggesting it could depend on the production and metabolism of sex steroids: high concentrations of estrogens were found in the endometriotic lesions, which grow and regress in an oestrogen-dependent way. Nevertheless, the pathogenesis and the molecular mechanism that underlie the development of endometriosis have troubled the investigators through many years, remaining an enigma. The disease is widely accepted to result from the ectopic implantation of refluxed menstrual tissues. In addition, immunologic changes, environmental, hormonal and genetic factors contribute to the multifactorial etiology of endometriosis.

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endometriosisinfertility

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