Endometriosis and adenomyosis
Endometriosis and adenomyosis
Updated: 12/16/2020
© Jun Wang, MD, PhD
General features
- Benign endometrial mucosa (glands and stroma) in
locations outside uterine cavity
- Chronic inflammatory, estrogen-dependent disease
- Reproductive age with active hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis function
- Most common site: ovaries
- Adenomyosis: benign endometrial tissue in myometrium
- Associated with endometrioid type and clear cell type ovarian adenocarcinoma
Clinical presentations
- Pain (dysmenorrhea)
- Infertility
Key pathogenesis
- 4 hypothesis
- Regurgitation: Expulsion of endometrial tissue along fallopian tube during menstruation
- Benign metastasis: Spread of benign endometrial tissue in a similar means of tumor metastasis
- Extrauterine stem/progenitor cells: Extrauterine stem/progenitor cell differentiation in to endometrial tissue
- Metaplasia: Transformation of other type of tissue into endometrial tissue
Key pathological findings
- Hemorrhagic nodules, chocolate cyst
- Adenomyosis: nodular spongy lesion (endometrial tissue) in myometrium
- Benign endometrial glands, stroma and hemorrhagic changes
Molecular abnormalities
- May harbor PTEN and ARID1A mutation
Treatment
- Hormonal: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, progestins, oral contraceptive pills, and androgens
- Surgery
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