Bowel endometriosis: diagnosis and management

Camran Nezhat, Li A, Anjie Li, Rebecca Falik, Daniel Copeland, Razavi G, Gity Razavi, Alexandra Shakib, Shakib A, Mihailide C, Catalina Mihailide, Bamford H, Holden Bamford, Lucia DiFrancesco, DiFrancesco L, Salli I. Tazuke, Salli Tazuke, Tazuke S, Pejman Ghanouni, Ghanouni P, Homero Rivas, Rivas H, Azadeh Nezhat, Nezhat A, Nezhat C, Ceana Nezhat, Nezhat F, Farr Nezhat
American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · 2017 · vol. 218(6) , pp. 549–562 · doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2017.09.023 · PMID:29032051 · W2763970828
review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 152 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-07, 2026-07-08 ⓘ

This review details the diagnosis and management of bowel endometriosis, recommending conservative surgery for lesions near the anal verge to minimize complications.

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Abstract

The most common location of extragenital endometriosis is the bowel. Medical treatment may not provide long-term improvement in patients who are symptomatic, and consequently most of these patients may require surgical intervention. Over the past century, surgeons have continued to debate the optimal surgical approach to treating bowel endometriosis, weighing the risks against the benefits. In this expert review we will describe how the recommended surgical approach depends largely on the location of disease, in addition to size and depth of the lesion. For lesions approximately 5-8 cm from the anal verge, we encourage conservative surgical management over resection to decrease the risk of short- and long-term complications.

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Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_painbowel_endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Digestive System Surgical Procedures Endometriosis Intestinal Diseases Anal Canal Anal Canal Conservative Treatment Contraceptives, Oral, Combined Contraceptives, Oral, Combined Danazol Danazol Digestive System Surgical Procedures Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endosonography Estrogen Antagonists Estrogen Antagonists Female Humans Intestinal Diseases

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 (99)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-07-31T06:09:14.520117+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:20:13.663096+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK