Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a chronic disease in which tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the uterus. It can cause pain, inflammation, scarring, and difficulty conceiving.

Endometriotic lesion: A localized growth of tissue resembling the uterine lining outside the uterus. Lesions are the defining abnormal growths whose location and activity shape endometriosis symptoms.
Laparoscopy: A surgical procedure that examines the abdomen through small incisions using a camera. It can identify and treat visible endometriosis, though surgery is not required in every diagnostic pathway.
Carl von Rokitansky: A nineteenth-century Austrian physician and pathologist who described endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus. His observations helped establish early medical descriptions of lesions later associated with endometriosis.
Uterine fibroid: A benign growth of smooth muscle and connective tissue in or around the uterus. Fibroids can cause pelvic pain or heavy bleeding but arise from uterine muscle, not ectopic endometrial-like tissue.
Retrograde menstruation: Menstrual fluid flows backward through the fallopian tubes into the pelvic cavity. This proposed route could help explain how some endometrial-like cells reach pelvic surfaces.
Endometriosis excision surgery: Surgery that removes endometriosis lesions by cutting them out of affected tissue. Excision is one surgical approach for treating lesions and related symptoms.
John A. Sampson: An American gynecologist who developed the theory that retrograde menstruation can cause endometriosis. His 1920s theory strongly influenced explanations of how endometriosis begins.
Pelvic inflammatory disease: An infection of the upper female reproductive tract, often involving the uterus, fallopian tubes, or ovaries. It can cause pelvic pain and infertility, but infection rather than endometriotic lesions drives the disease.
Adenomyosis: A condition in which endometrial tissue grows within the muscular wall of the uterus. It involves similar tissue but grows inside the uterus, unlike endometriosis.
Hormonal therapy: Treatment that changes hormone signaling or levels to manage a disease or its symptoms. Hormonal treatments can suppress endometriosis activity and pain but do not permanently remove the disease.

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