What is Endometriosis?

A commonly encountered query ‘what is endometriosis?’ has baffled many of us. An approximate three to ten percent of females in their child bearing years and between 20 to thirty-five percent of infertile females are affected with endometriosis. In females ailing from pelvic pains, the commonness is around forty to sixty percent. Endometriosis is diagnosed commonly in-between twenty to twenty-nine years age group of women and across all ethnicities and social standing. Symptoms generally lessen during menopause with the noted plummet in estrogen being produced.

What is Endometriosis?

When probed about ‘what is endometriosis?’ it is a perplexing hormonal, immune condition afflicting females in ages from 8 onwards till post-menopausal phase. It is a widespread gynaecological problem which is acute, agonizing and mostly advancing condition among females.

Usually the tissue lining the uterus called as endometrium is present solely inside it and is discarded from the body during the monthly period cycle. But due to endometriosis, infinitesimal parts of this tissue manages to break away from the uterus backward into the abdominal area, adhering and growing on the organs located in the abdomen or pelvis. Implantation of such endometrial cells generally occurs all through the pelvis and mostly involves other reproductive organs like outer uterine wall, ovaries, ligament forms supporting the uterus and the gap in-between the rectum and uterus. Rarely, these might reach past the abdominal region and affecting other organ types like lung.

Similar to the endometrium, the tissue after transplantation would respond to progesterone, estrogen hormones and thickens and bleeds monthly. However as the relocated tissue embeds on to other tissues thus blood production fails to break away thereby causing irritation to the adjoining tissues that would cause cyst, scar and the fusing in together of body tissues. It could finally cause binding together of reproductive organ forms and resemble a single mass formation when medically examined. It could cause acute distortion to the usual pelvic structure and as a result cause an enormously unfavourable effect on fertility.

Endometriosis which is a non-malignant condition has been categorized as: mild, minimal, moderate or severe based on lesion extent and the depth of penetration within other organs in the body. These are additionally referred to as stage I to IV.

Endometriosis Causes:

Scientists have not yet been able to identify precisely the manner in which the endometrial tissue manages to reach other body areas or why it occurs. One possible explanation would involve a disorder known as backward/retrograde menstruation wherein instead of the normal process of parts of discarded uterine lining exiting via the cervical and vaginal region it would travel backward via the fallopian tubes and might then be carted into the abdominal cavity thus causing endometriosis. Physicians have observed that females having physical disorders like vaginal or cervical obstructions are more likely to develop retrograde menstruation.

Atypically, endometriosis could affect the lungs or other tissues distantly placed from the uterus. Scientists conjecture that the wandering endometrial pieces chart their course via the blood or lymphatic system, though the reason for this occurring is still unclear.

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