Do we know what causes endometriosis?

Duncan Wagstaff, Becker CM, Christian M. Becker
British journal of hospital medicine (London, England : 2005) · 2008 · vol. 69(6) , pp. 314–315 · doi:10.12968/hmed.2008.69.6.29617 · PMID:18646409 · W2036385035
editorial OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 1 in-corpus citation
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⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-13 ⓘ

This review discusses existing hypotheses for endometriosis causation, including coelomic metaplasia, induction, retrograde menstruation, Müllerian remnants, and the archimetra concept, while noting the incomplete understanding of the disorder's origins.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-13 · read from full text ⓘ

The paper reviews existing theories about the causes of endometriosis, noting that despite intensive investigation, causation is still incompletely understood. It outlines multiple proposed mechanisms, including coelomic metaplasia, induction, retrograde menstruation and implantation, Müllerian remnants, and the archimetra concept, and describes that each hypothesis has different levels of plausibility and supporting scientific evidence. The main limitation is that the article is a narrative overview of competing theories rather than presenting new experimental or population-based data to resolve which mechanism is correct. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it specifically reviews major hypotheses for endometriosis causation.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is one of the most intensively investigated benign gynaecological disorders, but our understanding of its causation remains surprisingly incomplete. Several theories exist: coelomic metaplasia, induction, retrograde menstruation and implantation, Müllerian remnants and the archimetra concept. These hypotheses show various extents of plausibility and supporting scientific data.
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British Journal of Hospital Medicine (BJHM) is published by IMR Press from Volume 87 Issue 1 (2026). Previous articles were published by another publisher under the hybrid model (CC-BY-NC license or on a subscription basis), and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement. Do we know what causes endometriosis? Article Info Abstract Endometriosis is one of the most intensively investigated benign gynaecological disorders, but our understanding of its causation remains surprisingly incomplete. Several theories exist: coelomic metaplasia, induction, retrograde menstruation and implantation, Müllerian remnants and the archimetra concept. These hypotheses show various extents of plausibility and supporting scientific data.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Menstruation Disturbances Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Menstruation Disturbances Myometrium Myometrium

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 (7)

Cited by (1)

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