Original ArticleEndometriomas as a Marker of Disease Severity
Section snippets
Methods
Local ethical and research governance approval was sought and granted before the study.
A prospective observational study was carried out from January 2003 through August 2005. Women were recruited from a single dedicated pelvic pain clinic in a United Kingdom National Health Service trust, attracting both secondary and tertiary referrals. All women requiring a laparoscopy for investigation and treatment of their chronic pelvic pain with histologically proved endometriosis were included in the
Results
During the 32-month period of the study, 295 women were identified as having endometriosis and underwent laparoscopic excision of all identifiable endometriotic deposits.
The median age was 31 years (interquartile range 26–36 years). Severity of disease was assessed by the r-ASRM score, and 31% of women had stage 1 disease, 24% stage 2, 13% stage 3, and 32% stage 4. In all, 61 (21%) women had an endometrioma, which was confirmed histologically in all cases. The endometrioma was found on the left
Discussion
r-ASRM scores are reported, but as they are heavily dependant on the presence or absence of endometrioma, these scores are not considered further other than to show the broad spectrum of disease in this cohort, with around a third of the sample having severe disease.
The moderately high positive likelihood ratios reported in this study shows that in this cohort of women with endometriosis, the presence of endometrioma is a good indicator of rectosigmoid disease involvement and posterior
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2020, Journal of Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Disorders
The authors have no commercial, proprietary, or financial interest in the products or companies described in this article.