Inguinal endometriosis: A systematic review

Alexandros Dalkalitsis, Salta S, Styliani Salta, Ιoannis Tsakiridis, Ioannis Tsakiridis, Themistoklis Dagklis, Kalogiannidis I, Ioannis Kalogiannidis, Apostolos Mamopoulos, Mamopoulos A, Angelos Daniilidis, Aris Daniilidis, Apostolos Athanasiadis, Athanasiadis A, Iordanis Navrozoglou, Navrozoglou I, Paschopoulos M, Minas Paschopoulos, Vatopoulou A, Anastasia Vatopoulou, Kosmas I, Ioannis Kosmas
Taiwanese journal of obstetrics & gynecology · 2022 · vol. 61(1) , pp. 24–33 · doi:10.1016/j.tjog.2021.11.007 · PMID:35181041 · W4212778775
Systematic review / meta-analysis OA: diamond CC0 ⤵ 20 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-12 ⓘ

This systematic review analyzed 133 cases of inguinal endometriosis, finding that a unilateral inguinal mass with or without catamenial pain is typical, ultrasound is a common diagnostic tool, and surgical excision is the primary treatment.

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

Abstract

Inguinal endometriosis is a very rare entity with uncertain pathophysiology, that poses several diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. This study aimed to summarize published literature on the diagnosis and treatment of this condition. Thus, a systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and the Cochrane Library. An effort was made to numerically analyze all parameters included in case reports and retrospective analyses, as well. The typical and atypical features of this condition, investigations used, type of treatment and histopathology were recorded. More specifications about the surgical treatment, such as operations previously performed, type of surgery and treatment after surgery have been acknowledged. Other sites of endometriosis, the presence of pelvic endometriosis and the follow-up and recurrence have been also documented. Overall, the search yielded 61 eligible studies including 133 cases of inguinal endometriosis. The typical clinical presentation includes a unilateral inguinal mass, with or without catamenial pain. Transabdominal or transvaginal ultrasound was typically used as the first line method of diagnosis. Groin incision and exploratory surgery was the treatment indicated by the majority of the authors, while excision of part of the round ligament was reported in about half of the cases. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy were initiated in cases of coexisting endometriosis-related neoplasia. Inguinal recurrence or malignant transformation was rarely reported. The treatment of inguinal endometriosis is surgical and a long-term follow-up is needed. More research is needed on the effectiveness of suppressive hormonal therapy, recurrence rate and its relationship with endometriosis-associated malignancies.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Groin Inguinal Canal Round Ligament of Uterus Ultrasonography Ultrasonography Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Groin Groin Groin Humans Humans Inguinal Canal Inguinal Canal Inguinal Canal

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 (78)

Cited by (23)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-26T06:15:05.866214+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:34:07.010134+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK