Adenomyosis as a disorder of the early and late human reproductive period

G Kunz, Georg Kunz, Kunz G, M Herbertz, Herbertz M, D Beil, Beil D, P Huppert, Huppert P, Peter Huppert, G Leyendecker, Leyendecker G
Reproductive biomedicine online · 2007 · vol. 15(6) , pp. 681–685 · doi:10.1016/s1472-6483(10)60535-4 · PMID:18062865 · W2135112634
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This review examines adenomyosis as a disorder associated with both the early and late stages of human reproductive life, exploring its pathogenesis and clinical manifestations across these periods.

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Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows the diagnosis of adenomyosis in vivo with a high sensitivity and specificity. Usually the diagnosis of adenomyosis is obtained from women in their fourth to fifth decade of life. However, recent data suggest that adenomyosis may develop much sooner in life, particularly in women with endometriosis. In order to test these suggestions, MRI of the uterus in 227 women with and without endometriosis was performed and the results were related to the age of the subjects (age groups: 17-24, 25-29, 30-34 and >34 years). The study revealed that the process of the development of adenomyosis, represented by an increased diameter of the dorsal junctional zone of the uterus as the imaging correlative of the invasion of basal endometrium into the junctional zone, had already commenced early in the third decade of life and progressed steadily during the fourth decade in women with endometriosis. Women without endometriosis showed almost no signs of adenomyosis up to the age of 34 years. Surprisingly, parallel in both groups of women, a marked increase in the incidence of adenomyosis could be observed beyond the age of 34 years, thus representing a common phenomenon in the age-related pathophysiological continuum of adenomyosis.

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Condition tags

endometriosisadenomyosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Magnetic Resonance Imaging Adolescent Adult Age Distribution Endometriosis Female Humans Infertility, Female Middle Aged Prevalence Uterus Uterus

Citation neighborhood

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. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

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Cited by (50)

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