Endometriosis

In: Endocrinology · 2020 · pp. 155–171 · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-14782-2_8 · W4254405602
book-chapter OA: closed CC0
Full text JSON View on OpenAlex View at publisher
AI-generated summary by claude@2026-07+body, 2026-07-09

Endometriosis is a chronic benign disease affecting 6-10% of women, characterized by endometrial tissue outside the uterus, causing pain and infertility.

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

AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 · read from full text

This paper reviewed endometriosis as a chronic benign condition characterized by endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity, affecting about 6–10% of women, typically during reproductive years. It discusses major hypothesized pathogenesis pathways (retrograde menstruation, dissemination via blood/lymph, and metaplasia/stem-cell theories) and the resultant inflammatory, angiogenic, fibrotic, neural, and anatomical changes that lead to pain and infertility. It also summarizes clinical classification (superficial/peritoneal, ovarian, and deep endometriosis) and diagnostic approach, noting that transvaginal ultrasound is the first imaging option, with diagnosis based on history and pelvic examination; a key caveat is that pathogenesis has not been definitively established. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — a chapter-level overview of its pathogenesis, clinical features, classification, diagnosis, and management principles.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Full text 7,472 characters · extracted from oa-doi-fallback · 2 sections · click to expand

Abstract

Endometriosis is a chronic benign disease characterized by the presence and proliferation of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. It affects approximately 6–10% of women. Typically this disease interests women in their reproductive period and affects quality of life. The pathogenesis of endometriosis has not been definitively established; the most accredited theories are retrograde menstruation, blood and lymphatic dissemination, and metaplasia of celomic epithelium and stem cell. Ectopic implants cause a local inflammatory response, accompanied by angiogenesis, adhesions, fibrosis, scarring, neuronal infiltration, and anatomical distortion. The main clinical manifestations are pain and infertility. Currently, endometriosis is classified in clinical practice in superficial or peritoneal, ovarian, and deep endometriosis. Ovary is the most affected organ. Diagnosis is based on clinical history and pelvic examination, supported by radiological investigations including transvaginal ultrasound examination that represents the first imaging approach. Endometriosis requires a lifelong management plan with the goal of maximizing the use of medical treatment and avoiding repeated surgical procedures. Access this chapter Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout Purchases are for personal use only Similar content being viewed by others

References

Agarwal SK, Chapron C, Giudice LC, Laufer MR, Leyland N, Missmer SA, Singh SS, Taylor HS. Clinical diagnosis of endometriosis: a call to action. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2019; pii: S0002–9378(19)30002-X. Ahn SH, Monsanto SP, Miller C, Singh SS, Thomas R, Tayade C. Pathophysiology and Immune Dysfunction in Endometriosis. Bio Med Res Int. 2015;2015:12. Article ID 795976. American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Revised american society for reproductive medicine classification of endometriosis: 1996. Fertil Steril. 1997;67(5):817–21. Bourgioti C, Preza O, Panourgias E, Chatoupis K, Antoniou A, Nikolaidou ME, Moulopoulos LA. MR imaging of endometriosis: spectrum of disease. Diagn Interv Imaging. 2017;98(11):751–67. Clemenza S, Sorbi F, Noci I, Capezzuoli T, Turrini I, Carriero C, Buffi N, Fambrini M, Petraglia F. From pathogenesis to clinical practice: emerging medical treatments for endometriosis. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 2018;51:92–101. de Ziegler D, Borghese B, Chapron C. Endometriosis and infertility: pathophysiology and management. Lancet. 2010;376(9742):730–8. Dovey S, Sanfilippo J. Endometriosis and the adolescent. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2010;53(2):420–8. Dunselman GA, Vermeulen N, Becker C, et al. ESHRE guideline: management of women with endometriosis. Hum Reprod. 2014;29:400–12. González-Foruria I, Santulli P, Chouzenoux S, Carmona F, Chapron C, Batteux F. Dysregulation of the ADAM17/Notch signalling pathways in endometriosis: from oxidative stress to fibrosis. Mol Hum Reprod. 2017;23(7):488–99. Guerriero S, Condous G, van den Bosch T, Valentin L, Leone FP, Van Schoubroeck D, Exacoustos C, Installé AJ, Martins WP, Abrao MS, Hudelist G, Bazot M, Alcazar JL, Gonçalves MO, Pascual MA, Ajossa S, Savelli L, Dunham R, Reid S, Menakaya U, Bourne T, Ferrero S, Leon M, Bignardi T, Holland T, Jurkovic D, Benacerraf B, Osuga Y, Somigliana E, Timmerman D. Systematic approach to sonographic evaluation of the pelvis in women with suspected endometriosis, including terms, definitions and measurements: a consensus opinion from the International Deep Endometriosis Analysis (IDEA) group. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2016;48:318–32. Haas D, Shebl O, Shamiyeh A, Oppelt P. The rASRM score and the Enzian classification for endometriosis: their strengths and weaknesses. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2013;92(1):3–7. Hufnagel D, Li F, Cosar E, Krikun G, Taylor HS. The role of stem cells in the etiology and pathophysiology of endometriosis. Semin Reprod Med. 2015;33(5):333–40. Johnson NP, Hummelshoj L, Adamson GD, Keckstein J, Taylor HS, Abrao MS, Bush D, Kiesel L, Tamimi R, Sharpe-Timms KL, Rombauts L, Giudice LC. World endometriosis society consensus on the classification of endometriosis. Hum Reprod. 2017;32(2):315–24. Machairiotis N, Stylianaki A, Dryllis G, Zarogoulidis P, Kouroutou P, Tsiamis N, Katsikogiannis N, Sarika E, Courcoutsakis N, Tsiouda T, Gschwendtner A, Zarogoulidis K, Sakkas L, Baliaka A, Machairiotis C. Extrapelvic endometriosis: a rare entity or an under diagnosed condition? Diagn Pathol. 2013;8:194. Meyer R. Uber den Staude der Frage der adenomyosites adenomyoma in Allgemeinen und adenomyonetitis sarcomatoza. Zentralbl Gynakol. 1919;36:745–59. Muzii L, Bellati F, Bianchi A, Palaia I, Manci N, Zullo MA, et al. Laparoscopic stripping of endometriomas: a randomized trial on different surgical techniques. Part II: pathological results. Hum Reprod Oxf Engl. 2005;20(7):1987–92. Muzii L, Bianchi A, Bellati F, Cristi E, Pernice M, Zullo MA, Angioli R, Panici PB. Histologic analysis of endometriomas: what the surgeon needs to know. Fertil Steril. 2007;87(2):362. Novembri R, Borges LE, Carrarelli P, Rocha AL, De Pascalis F, Florio P, Petraglia F. Impaired CRH and urocortin expression and function in eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011;96(4):1145–50. Parazzini F, Esposito G, Tozzi L, Noli S, Bianchi S. Epidemiology of endometriosis and its comorbidities. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2017;209:3–7. Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Treatment of pelvic pain associated with endometriosis: a committee opinion. Fertil Steril. 2014;101:927. Proctor M, Latthe P, Farquhar C, Khan K, Johnson N. Surgical interruption of pelvic nerve pathways for primary and secondary dysmenorrhoea. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005:CD001896. Revised American Fertility Society classification of endometriosis. Fertil Steril. 1985;43(3):351–2. Sampson J. Peritoneal endometriosis due to the menstrual dissemination of endometrial tissue into the peritoneal cavity. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1927;14:422–69. Tosti C, Pinzauti S, Santulli P, Chapron C, Petraglia F. Pathogenetic Mechanisms of Deep Infiltrating Endometriosis. Reprod Sci. 2015;22(9):1053–9. Tosti C, Biscione A, Morgante G, Bifulco G, Luisi S, Petraglia F. Hormonal therapy for endometriosis: from molecular research to bedside. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2017;209:61–6. Vercellini P, Viganò P, Somigliana E, Fedele L. Endometriosis: pathogenesis and treatment. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2014;10(5):261–75. Vercellini P, Buggio L, Berlanda N, Barbara G, Somigliana E, Bosari S. Estrogen-progestins and progestins for the management of endometriosis. Fertil Steril. 2016;106(7):1552–71. Wilbur MA, Shih IM, Segars JH, Fader AN. Cancer Implications for Patients with Endometriosis. Semin Reprod Med. 2017;35(1):110–6. Author information Authors and Affiliations Corresponding author Editor information Editors and Affiliations Rights and permissions Copyright information © 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG About this entry Cite this entry Clemenza, S., Campana, D., Vannuccini, S., Coutinho, L.M., Petraglia, F. (2020). Endometriosis. In: Petraglia, F., Fauser, B. (eds) Female Reproductive Dysfunction . Endocrinology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14782-2_8 Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14782-2_8 Published: Publisher Name: Springer, Cham Print ISBN: 978-3-030-14781-5 Online ISBN: 978-3-030-14782-2 eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy (via DOI) is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-doi-fallback

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

Condition tags

endometriosis

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.

References (27)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-06-02T02:00:03.124865+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK