What are the methods for testing endometriosis?

Do you know how to check for endometriosis? This problem may have been encountered by many pregnant women, because pregnant women are more worried about the condition of the endometrium. As long as the condition of the endometrium is normal. Everyone can have a safe pregnancy. After all, pregnancy is a very important thing for every family, so endometriosis examination is something that pregnant women need to pay attention to from time to time. Let me tell you about the situation in this regard.

Endometriosis is a common and frequently occurring disease among young and middle-aged women. Currently, its incidence rate has a clear upward trend, but there are still many problems to be solved in diagnosis and treatment. In order to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis, we invited 17 experts including Professor Lang Jinghe from Peking Union Medical College Hospital to discuss and draft a plan repeatedly. After five revisions, this article was finally completed, hoping to help guide clinicians.

Endometriosis (endometriosis) refers to the appearance of endometrial tissue (glands and stroma) outside the uterus, and its characteristics are as follows:

A common disease among women of childbearing age, mainly causing pain and infertility; the incidence rate has a clear upward trend; the symptoms and signs are disproportionate to the severity of the disease; the lesions are extensive and diverse in morphology; they are extremely invasive and can form extensive and severe adhesions; they are hormone-dependent and prone to recurrence.

1. Clinical pathological types of endometriosis

1. Peritoneal Endometriosis (PEM): refers to various endometriosis lesions in the pelvic and abdominal peritoneum, mainly including red lesions (early lesions), blue lesions (typical lesions) and white lesions (old lesions).

2. Ovarian Endometriosis (OEM): It can form cysts, called endometriotic cysts (commonly known as "chocolate cysts"). According to the size of the cyst and the degree of infiltration of the ectopic lesions, they are divided into:

Type I: The diameter of the cyst is usually less than 2 cm, the cyst wall is adhered and has unclear layers, making it difficult to remove during surgery.

Type II: It is divided into three types: A, B, and C.

ⅡA: The endometrial implants are superficial, involving the ovarian cortex but not reaching the cyst wall. They are often accompanied by functional cysts and are easy to remove during surgery.

Ⅱ B: The implantation focus of endometriosis has involved the wall of chocolate cyst, but the boundary with the ovarian cortex is clear and it is easier to remove during surgery.

ⅡC: Ectopic implants penetrate the cyst wall and extend to the surrounding area. The cyst wall is closely adhered to the ovarian cortex and is accompanied by fibrosis or multilocularity. The ovary is adhered to the pelvic side wall and is large in size, making it difficult to remove during surgery.

3. Deep Infiltrating Endometriosis (DIE): refers to lesion infiltration depth ≥ 5 mm, commonly found in the uterosacral ligament, rectouterine pouch, vaginal vault, recto-vaginal septum, etc. There are two types of rectovaginal septum: one is pseudorectovaginal septum endometriosis, in which the adhesions of the rectal fossa are closed and the lesion is located below the adhesions; the other is true rectovaginal septum endometriosis, in which the lesion is located outside the peritoneum, inside the rectovaginal septum, and there is no obvious anatomical abnormality in the rectouterine pouch.

4. Other Endometriosis (OtEM): It can affect the digestive (I), urinary (U), and respiratory (R) systems, and can form scar endometriosis (S), as well as other rare distant endometriosis.

That’s all I have to say about the specific methods of endometriosis examination. Finally, I hope you can pay more attention to your health. Especially for women, the uterus is a very important part, and it is also crucial when giving birth in the future. Finally, I wish every patient good health and recovery as soon as possible!