Chronic pelvic pain Flashcards
Define endometriosis
the presence and growth of tissue similar to endometrium outside the uterus
Who is endometriosis more common in?
30-45 year, nulliparous women
Why does endometriosis regress after menopause and during pregnancy?
It’s thickening is oestrogen-dependent (like the endometrium)
Which ligament does endometriosis commonly occur in?
the uterosacral ligaments
What is a chocolate cyst and what condition is it associated it?
accumulated altered blood is dark brown and can form a chocolate cyst or endometrioma in the ovaries. Found in endometriosis
Describe the progressive pathology of endometriosis to a frozen pelvis
Endometriosis causes inflammation, with progressive fibrosis, adhesions. In it’s most severe form, the entire pelvis is ‘frozen’, the pelvic organs rendered immobile by adhesions.
How does endometriosis spread?
Most in the pelvis through retrograde menstruation. More distant foci may result from mechanism, lymphatic or blood-borne spread.
What is retrograde menstruation?
Endometrium flows backwards through the fallopian tubes and into the abdomen, instead of leaving the body as a period The tissue then embeds itself on the organs of the pelvis and grows
Why does retrograde menstruation not cause endometriosis in everyone?
happens in many women - not all have endometriosis. Thought to be a genetic predisposition. An unpopular theory is that endometriosis is the result of metaplasia of coelomic cells
What pattern of pelvic pain occurs in endometriosis?
Cyclical pelvic pain
Describe some common symptoms of endometriosis
Dysmenorrhoea, chronic pelvic pain, deep dyspareunia, subfertility, cyclical bowel or bladder symptoms inlcuding pain and or bleeding, dyschezia (pain on defaecation), dysuria
Can you get bowel and bladder symptoms in endometriosis?
Yes - often cyclical
Pain and or bleeding, pain on defacation
What symptoms might you get in very severe endometriosis?
Haematuria, rectal bleeding, umbilical bleeding
On vaginal examination, what findings might you get in endometriosis?
Tenderness, thickening behind the uterus or in the adnexa
In advanced cases of endometriosis, how might the uterus feel?
Retroverted and immobile uterus (due to adhesions) and rectovaginal nodule of endometriosis on digital exam, and can be visible on speculum exam posterior to the cervix if full thickness vaginally
Can the pelvis ever feel normal in endometriosis?
Yes - in mild endometriosis the pelvis can feel normal
How do you diagnose endometriosis?
LAPAROSCOPY Only certain after visualisation and/or biopsy, most often at laparoscopy
What do active endometriosis lesions look like on laparoscopy?
red lesions of punctuate marks on the peritoneum
What does less active endometriosis look like on laparoscopy?
White scars or brown spots (powder burn) - white areas of scarring with surrounding abnormal blood vessels
When might MRI be used in diagnosis of endometriosis?
If adenomysosis is suspected, to visualise peritoneal endometriosis, if there is clinical evidence of deeply infilitrating endometriosis, urteric, bladder and bowel involvement
What grading system is used for endometriosis severity?
American fertility society (rev-AFS) grading system
Grade 1-4 (minimal to severe)
Name some differential diagnoses when endometriosis si suspected
Other causes of abdo pain, heavy menstrual bleeding
Adenomyosis (when the endometrium breaks through the myometrium)
Chronic PID - will have discharge, fever and malaise
IBS
Uterine fibroids