[Clinical and paraclinical diagnosis of pelvic endometriosis. Clinical study].

UNLABELLED: Pelvic endometriosis is a difficult diagnosis in gynecological practice, due to different symptoms and advanced stages in which the patients arrive to us. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This study retrospectively analyses 73 cases of confirmed endometriosis admitted in our service during 5 years. We gathered information about their clinical data and diagnosis, and intraoperative laparoscopic or laparotomic findings. RESULTS: The majority of our cases were in the 3rd age decade (52%). The clinical symptoms were: infertility (34%), pelvic or abdominal pain (71%), vaginal bleeding (14%), or an accidental finding after laparotomy or laparoscopy for other reasons (7%). The intraoperative evaluation of the cases showed: endometrial genital foci in 59%, with half of them located at the ovary; extragenital sites in 30 cases (bladder--4 cases, Douglas pouch 19 cases, abdominal wall 5 cases, para-cervix 2 cases). Associated pathology included: adhesions in 46%, retroverted uterus in 15%, ovarian non endometriotic cysts (18%), polycystic ovaries (12%) and tubal pathology (6%). CONCLUSION: Our study confirm the difficulty of a clinical diagnostic of endometriosis, but the main symptoms remain infertility and pelvic-abdominal pain. The laparoscopy or laparotomy were the main tools for the diagnostic and management of our cases.