What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial tissue, which is the tissue that is found on the lining of the uterus, outside of the uterus.
What are some common and uncommon locations for this tissue?
The common locations are the ovaries and the inside of the vagina in the so-called the cul-de-sac, which is the area of the deepest part of the pelvis, and the lining of the pelvis called the peritoneum.
There are circumstances where it is found at other sites. The most common area outside of the pelvis would be the intestine. It could be on the appendix, the liver or the lung. It's located on nerves such as the sciatic nerve, which is that big nerve in the leg. It's been reported pretty much everywhere in the body.
Patients will have different types of symptoms depending upon the location of the tissue. For example, if it involves the sciatic nerve, the patient can have leg pain and difficulties walking. Or if they have endometriosis on the intestine, they'll have intestinal symptoms, like constipation or diarrhea. If it's on the lung, they may go to a lung specialist with a collapsed lung. Then after they've had a biopsy, they wind up seeing a gynecologist.
What are the most common symptoms?
The most important symptom is pain, and then infertility. The pain part is usually very bad pain before or after the period and with sexual intercourse. Women may also have non-cyclic pelvic pain, which means it can come at any time.
