Emergent and unusual presentations of endometriosis: pearls and pitfalls

The purpose of this pictorial essay is to highlight atypical and unusual presentations of endometriosis that can be missed or misinterpreted in the emergency setting. Although endometriosis is a chronic disease, it can present acutely with symptoms and imaging mimicking more common acute gynecologic, gastrointestinal, or urinary conditions as well as neoplasms. Furthermore, patients may present emergently prior to an established diagnosis of endometriosis. Here, we present a range of cases including endometrioma rupture and infection, urinary tract involvement and obstruction, bowel obstruction, appendicitis, gastrointestinal infiltration, abdominal masses, and thoracic involvement. Pelvic ultrasound and MRI are the most valuable imaging modalities in the assessment of endometriosis. CT findings are non-specific, but given the widespread use of CT in emergency settings, it is important to recognize CT findings suggestive of the diagnosis in the right clinical setting. Similar content being viewed by others

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Ann Thorac Surg 81(2):761–769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2005.07.044 Author information Authors and Affiliations Corresponding author Ethics declarations Conflict of interest C. Brookmeyer: None. E.K. Fishman: General Electric educational grant support (Hopkins), Siemans research grant support (Hopkins), HipGraphics Inc. co-founder and shareholder. S. Sheth: Lecturer for Philips Health. Additional information Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Rights and permissions Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. About this article Cite this article Brookmeyer, C., Fishman, E.K. & Sheth, S. Emergent and unusual presentations of endometriosis: pearls and pitfalls. Emerg Radiol 30, 377–385 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-023-02128-7 Received: Accepted: Published: Version of record: Issue date: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-023-02128-7