Diagnosis of endometriosis

This paper reviews how endometriosis is diagnosed, describing diagnosis as requiring endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity along with direct or indirect evidence of cyclic bleeding. It distinguishes three clinical lesion entities—peritoneal implants, endometrial cysts, and deep nodular lesions—and states that laparoscopy with biopsy remains the gold standard, while also emphasizing that non-invasive approaches should focus on detecting functional activity such as bleeding. A key limitation acknowledged is that imaging or other non-invasive techniques are adjuncts and cannot replace laparoscopy/biopsy as definitive diagnosis. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it focuses specifically on diagnostic criteria, lesion types, and the role of laparoscopy/biopsy versus non-invasive techniques.

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