So endometriosis, it's cells similar to the lining of the uterus that are growing outside of the uterus. If I have endometriosis, should I have a hysterectomy? In those scenarios, we can frequently see that disease either on ultrasound or on MRI. That's called deep-infiltrating endometriosis. The exception to that is if there's endometriosis actually growing into organs in the pelvis or the abdomen like the bowel or the bladder. The vast majority of endometriosis is superficial endometriosis, meaning that it's almost like paint spackling on a wall, that we can't see it unless we actually go in and take a look surgically. Because during surgery we can remove tissue, look at it underneath the microscope, and definitively be able to say whether you do or do not have endometriosis. But unfortunately, the only way to say 100% If you do or do not have endometriosis is to do surgery. If you're having pain with your periods, pain in your pelvis in general pain with intercourse, urination, bowel movements, all of that may point us to a suspicion of endometriosis.
So endometriosis is something that can be a little bit elusive, but we can suspect it based on symptoms that you might be experiencing. So when a baby is developing inside the uterus of its mother, that's when we think endometriosis actually starts. Currently, we think that the likely source of endometriosis is actually occurring during development as a fetus. I wish I could tell you the answer to that, but unfortunately, we don't know. I'm here to answer some of the important questions that you might have about endometriosis.
Megan Wasson, a minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon at Mayo Clinic.
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