Surgical management of endometriosis

Abstract

Endometriosis is the presence of endometrial glands or stroma outside of the uterine cavity. While it is difficult to estimate overall incidence, it is thought that up to 10% of reproductive-age women have endometriosis, which can often result in infertility and pelvic pain. The variation and spectrum of symptoms produced by endometriosis can make patient management challenging, as some patients will present with debilitating pelvic pain and some will have few, if any, symptoms. Definitive diagnosis is made surgically, often with histological correlation. Symptomatic women can be managed either medically or surgically. Further complicating the treatment is the infertile patient with known or suspected endometriosis. While surgical treatments may benefit many patients with endometriosis-associated infertility, there is a subset of patients who may benefit more from proceeding to assisted reproductive technology. This paper will discuss surgical management of endometriosis in women with the primary complain...