ENDOMETRIOSIS
In short
L’endométriose est une maladie complexe qui peut récidiver dans certains cas et générer des douleurs chroniques.
Endometriosis, a long ignored disease, sometimes very difficult to live with on a daily basis, is defined as the presence outside the uterine cavity of tissue similar to the uterine mucosa which will undergo, during each subsequent menstrual cycle, the influence of changes hormonal. If the pathophysiology of endometriosis is not unequivocal and involves many hypotheses (metaplasia, induction, metastatic, immunological, genetic, epigenetic and environmental, stem cells, etc.), it is impossible to understand this disease without taking into account the regurgitation theory known as "implantation theory". During menstruation, under the effect of uterine contractions, part of the blood is regurgitated in the fallopian tubes to arrive in the abdomino-pelvic cavity. This theory would explain the majority of endometriosis cases.
This blood contains endometrial cells, fragments of uterine mucosa, which, instead of being destroyed by the immune system, will become implanted then, under the effect of subsequent hormonal stimulation, proliferate on the neighboring organs (peritoneum, ovary, fallopian tube, intestine, bladder, ureter, diaphragm, etc.).
Endometriosis is thus responsible for disabling pelvic pain and also, in some cases, infertility. These symptoms have a major impact on the quality of life of those affected with a significant impact on their personal and marital life, but also professional and social.
Extract from Professor Charles Chapron's Introduction in Les idées reçues sur l’endométriose – Février 2020 – Editions le Cavalier bleu.
What are the symptoms of endometriosis?
- Severe dysmenorrhea
- Pelvic pain
- Deep dyspareunia
- Infertility
- Painful defecation with catamenial recrudescence
- impaired quality of life
1. Kennedy S, Bergqvist A, Chapron C, D’Hooghe T, Dunselman G, Greb R, Hummelshoj L, Prentice A, Saridogan E, ESHRE Special Interest Group for Endometriosis and Endometrium Guideline Development. ESHRE guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. Hum Reprod 2005;20:2698–2704.
2. Collinet, P., Fritel, X., Revel-Delhom, C., Ballester, M., Bolze, P. A., Borghese, B., … & Canis, M. (2018). Prise en charge de l’endométriose: recommandations pour la pratique clinique CNGOF-HAS (texte court). Gynécologie Obstétrique Fertilité & Sénologie, 46(3), 144-155.
