Uterine Lymphatic and Blood Micro-Vessels in Women with Endometriosis through the Menstrual Cycle

Alison J. Hey‐Cunningham, Foong Wei Ng, Mph Busard, Marina Berbic, Frank Manconi, Lawrence H. Young, Héctor Barrera-Villa Zevallos, Peter Russell, Robert Markham, Ian S. Fraser
In: Journal of Endometriosis · 2010 · vol. 2(4) , pp. 197–204 · doi:10.1177/228402651000200404 · W4233460300
Observational OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 7 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

This study found increased lymphatic micro-vessel density in the proliferative phase and activated blood vessel density in the secretory phase of the endometrium in women with endometriosis compared to controls.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Purpose Endometriosis is a common disease, associated with persistent and severe symptoms including infertility and pain, however, pathogenesis remains poorly understood. It has been hypothesized that fragments of viable endometrial tissue shed at menstruation reach the peritoneal cavity and other distant sites by retrograde menstruation and dissemination into the lymphatic system. In this study, uterine lymphatic and blood micro-vessel populations were compared in women with and without endometriosis during the menstrual cycle. Methods Paraffin-embedded hysterectomy specimens from premenopausal women with histologically normal endometrium (37 control and 42 endometriosis) were obtained. Immunohistochemical staining was performed with antibodies for D2–40 (lymphatic endothelium), CD31 (pan-endothelial marker), and endoglin (activated endothelial cells in angiogenesis). Lymphatic (LVD) and blood (BVD) micro-vessel density were quantified with an automated cellular imaging system using color and morphometric properties to identify micro-vessels. Results Subtle but significant differences in uterine BVD and LVD were detected in endometriosis. LVD was significantly increased in basal layer endometrium of endometriosis patients during the proliferative phase (mean ± SD = 54.3 ± 20.1 vs. 41.4 ± 9.9, p = 0.025). Endoglin-positive BVD was increased in the subepithelial region of endometrium in endometriosis during the secretory phase (19.3 ± 16.6 vs. 6.4 ± 8.2, p = 0.038). Conclusions This report for the first time demonstrates that endometrial LVD is altered in women with endometriosis and supports changes in BVD in these women. These alterations are likely to contribute to pathogenesis of endometriosis, through lymphatic spread and increased angiogenic potential of shed endometrial fragments.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (42)

Cited by (7)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-15T06:24:24.424788+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK