Left Lateral Predisposition of Endometriosis and Endometrioma

Haya Al-Fozan, Togas Tulandi
In: Obstetrics & Gynecology · 2003 · vol. 101(1) , pp. 164–166 · doi:10.1097/00006250-200301000-00030 · W4231915678
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 32 in-corpus citations
Full text JSON View on OpenAlex View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Endometriosis implants and ovarian endometriomas were found to be significantly more frequent in the left hemipelvis and left ovary, respectively, compared to the right.

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

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by qwen3.7-flash, 2026-08-16 · read from full text ⓘ

This study analyzed operative reports from 330 women treated for endometriosis and 185 with ovarian endometrioma to determine the lateral distribution of lesions within the pelvis. The researchers found that endometriotic implants and adhesions were significantly more frequent on the left side compared to the right, with a similar predominance observed in left-sided ovarian endometriomas. The authors propose that this asymmetry may result from decreased fluid movement on the left due to the sigmoid colon, supporting the theory that endometriosis originates from regurgitated endometrial cells. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — specifically examining the lateral predisposition of disease location and its implications for pathogenesis theories.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate lateral distribution of endometriosis and ovarian endometrioma in women with endometriosis. METHODS: We evaluated operative reports of women who underwent laparoscopic treatment of endometriosis (n= 330) and ovarian endometrioma (n= 185) from January 1996 to January 2002. Data on all operative findings consisted of a written report, a diagram, the revised American Fertility Society classification of endometriosis, and a printout of the dictated report. RESULTS: Endometriotic implants were confined to one side of the pelvis in 143 women and bilaterally in 187 others. Endometriosis was significantly more frequent in the left (64.3%) than in the right hemipelvis (P< .001, odds ratio 3.3, 95% confidence interval 2.0, 5.3). Of those with bilateral lesions, adhesions were also more frequently found on the left than on the right hemipelvis (16.6% versus 6.9%,P< .01, odds ratio 2.6, 95% confidence interval 1.3, 5.2). Endometrioma was found in the left ovary (n= 90), in the right ovary (n= 59), and bilaterally (n= 36). Left ovarian endometrioma was found more frequently (60.4%) than right endometrioma (P< .001, odds ratio 2.3, 95% confidence interval 1.5, 3.7). This trend was not related to the size of the endometrioma. CONCLUSION: Our results confirm a left lateral predisposition of endometriosis and ovarian endometrioma. It is possible that this is related to decreased fluid movement in the left side of the pelvis because of the presence of sigmoid colon. These findings may support the theory that the origin of endometriosis is from the regurgitated endometrial cells. (Obstet Gynecol 2003;101:164-6. © 2003 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.)
Full text 1,804 characters · extracted from oa-doi-fallback · 4 sections · click to expand

Objective

To evaluate lateral distribution of endometriosis and ovarian endometrioma in women with endometriosis.

Methods

We evaluated operative reports of women who underwent laparoscopic treatment of endometriosis (n= 330) and ovarian endometrioma (n= 185) from January 1996 to January 2002. Data on all operative findings consisted of a written report, a diagram, the revised American Fertility Society classification of endometriosis, and a printout of the dictated report.

Results

Endometriotic implants were confined to one side of the pelvis in 143 women and bilaterally in 187 others. Endometriosis was significantly more frequent in the left (64.3%) than in the right hemipelvis (P< .001, odds ratio 3.3, 95% confidence interval 2.0, 5.3). Of those with bilateral lesions, adhesions were also more frequently found on the left than on the right hemipelvis (16.6% versus 6.9%,P< .01, odds ratio 2.6, 95% confidence interval 1.3, 5.2). Endometrioma was found in the left ovary (n= 90), in the right ovary (n= 59), and bilaterally (n= 36). Left ovarian endometrioma was found more frequently (60.4%) than right endometrioma (P< .001, odds ratio 2.3, 95% confidence interval 1.5, 3.7). This trend was not related to the size of the endometrioma.

Conclusion

Our results confirm a left lateral predisposition of endometriosis and ovarian endometrioma. It is possible that this is related to decreased fluid movement in the left side of the pelvis because of the presence of sigmoid colon. These findings may support the theory that the origin of endometriosis is from the regurgitated endometrial cells. (Obstet Gynecol 2003;101:164-6. © 2003 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.)

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy (via DOI) is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

⚙ Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-doi-fallback ⓘ

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

Condition tags

endometriosisendometrioma

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 (8)

Cited by (31)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-09-28T06:20:55.906821+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK