Endometriosis in young women: the experience of GISE

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical manifestations of endometriosis in adolescents. DESIGN: prospective clinical study. SETTING: University and General hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 38 females aged < or = 21 years who had a first surgically confirmed diagnosis of endometriosis during the period including years 2005-2006 at 12 participating centers were identified. Endometriotic lesions were staged according to the 1985 revised American Fertility Society [renamed American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)] classification. RESULTS: The mean age at diagnosis was 18.6 years, except in 3 cases (7.9%) in which it was made at < or = 15 years of age. None of the patients had a prior diagnosis of genital malformations, nor were any cases of diagnosed familiarity for endometriosis. Pelvic pain was present in all cases, although in 3 cases the presence of a pelvic mass was the indication for surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The main clinical finding emerging from this analysis suggests that pelvic pain is the main symptom. In our series pain was present in all cases and an ovarian endometrioma was present in three cases. With regard to the stage and site of the disease, the frequency of minimal-mild endometriosis was lower than in adult cases observed in the experience of GISE.