The involvement of the interstitial Cajal cells and the enteric nervous system in bowel endometriosis

Valentino Remorgida, V. Remorgida, Nicola Ragni, N. Ragni, Ragni N, Simone Ferrero, S Ferrero, P Anserini, Paola Anserini, P Torelli, Torelli P, E Fulcheri, Ezio Fulcheri
Human Reproduction · 2004 · vol. 20(1) , pp. 264–271 · doi:10.1093/humrep/deh568 · PMID:15576386 · W2117950197
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This study investigated bowel endometriosis, finding that lesions damaged interstitial Cajal cells and enteric plexuses, correlating with symptom severity and improvement after lesion removal.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Our aim was to investigate the relationships between gastrointestinal symptoms and histological findings in women with bowel endometriosis. METHODS: The gastrointestinal symptoms of 362 women with endometriosis were classified according to the subgroups of the Rome II criteria. All visible endometriotic lesions of the bowel were removed; the patients were prospectively followed up for 2 years. The interstitial Cajal cells (ICC) and the enteric nervous system were immunohistochemically evaluated. RESULTS: Sixty-eight (18.8%, 95% CI 14.9-23.2) women had bowel lesions. The endometriotic lesions infiltrated the serosal layer and surrounding connective tissue in 45 cases; the subserous plexus in 11 cases; the Auerbach plexus in eight cases; the Meissner plexus in four cases. Whenever the subserous plexus was interrupted by the endometriotic lesions, the ICC were damaged. All women with endometriotic lesions reaching at least the subserous plexus reported bowel complaints. The level of infiltration into the bowel wall was correlated with severity of symptoms. Removal of lesions resulted in improvement of symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Endometriosis-induced damage of ICC, even before muscular infiltration, may cause bowel symptoms.

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Condition tags

endometriosisbowel_endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Enteric Nervous System Gastrointestinal Diseases Adult Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Enteric Nervous System Enteric Nervous System Female Gastrointestinal Diseases Gastrointestinal Diseases Gastrointestinal Diseases Gastrointestinal Diseases Humans Irritable Bowel Syndrome Irritable Bowel Syndrome Irritable Bowel Syndrome Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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.

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Cited by (50)

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License: CC0 · commercial use OK