What Is Adenomyosis?

Adenomyosis is defined by the presence of heterotopic endometrial glands and stroma embedded within the myometrium. The study of adenomyosis across different age groups confirms it as a disease of the adult woman. Whereas endometriosis can manifest in young adolescents and even before menarche, the rare juvenile cases of adenomyosis feature localized cysts, rather than the classic features. Histology remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of adenomyosis, but there has been an increase in the use of ultrasound and MRI for the non-invasive diagnosis prior to hysterectomy and in women not undergoing surgery. Adenomyosis may be asymptomatic, or linked to pelvic pain, abnormal and heavy menstrual bleeding or infertility. The symptoms are not pathognomonic and an important cofounding factor when studying the disease is that adenomyosis often coexists with fibroids or with endometriosis. The use of two dimensional or three-dimensional ultrasound (US) and of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a means to identify and to map the presence of adenomyosis prior to surgery. The CA125 protein is one of the earliest biomarkers to be studied in adenomyosis, but a meta-analysis of published concluded that it is of limited utility. The search for biomarkers has not reached clinical applicability. When considering a classification for adenomyosis, it is necessary to consider the place of other variants containing a mixture of myometrium and endometrium, such as the typical and atypical polypoid adenomyomas, as well as other rare forms including the endocervical and retroperitoneal variants. Access this chapter Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout Purchases are for personal use only Similar content being viewed by others

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Author information Authors and Affiliations Corresponding author Editor information Editors and Affiliations Rights and permissions Copyright information © 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG About this chapter Cite this chapter Habiba, M., Benagiano, G. (2022). What Is Adenomyosis?. In: Oral, E. (eds) Endometriosis and Adenomyosis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97236-3_29 Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97236-3_29 Published: Publisher Name: Springer, Cham Print ISBN: 978-3-030-97235-6 Online ISBN: 978-3-030-97236-3 eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)