Endometriosis

On this page

Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

See, Play and Learn

• Videos and Tutorials

Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Teenagers
• Patient Handouts

Summary

The uterus, or womb, is the place where a baby grows when a woman is pregnant. Endometriosis is a disease in which the kind of tissue that normally grows inside the uterus grows outside the uterus. It can grow on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bowels, or bladder. Rarely, it grows in other parts of the body.

Symptoms include

• Pain, usually in the abdomen, lower back, or pelvic areas
• Infertility
• Heavy periods and bleeding between periods
• Painful menstrual cramps

Some women have no symptoms at all. Having trouble getting pregnant may be the first sign.

The cause of endometriosis is not known. Surgery, usually a laparoscopy, is currently the only way to be sure that you have endometriosis. Your health care provider will first take your medical history, do a pelvic exam, and maybe do imaging tests.

There is no cure, but treatments help with pain and infertility. They include pain medicines, hormone treatments, and surgery.

NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Start Here

• Endometriosis (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF Also in Spanish
• Endometriosis (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Endometriosis (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish
• What Is Endometriosis? (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish

Symptoms

• What Are the Symptoms of Endometriosis? (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Abdominal exploration - slideshow (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• How Do Health Care Providers Diagnose Endometriosis? (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish
• Pelvic laparoscopy - slideshow (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Endometriosis and Infertility: Can Surgery Help? (American Society for Reproductive Medicine) - PDF Also in Spanish
• Laparoscopy (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF Also in Spanish
• What Are the Treatments for Endometriosis? (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Endometriosis: Does It Cause Infertility? (American Society for Reproductive Medicine) - PDF Also in Spanish

Specifics

• Adenomyosis (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Videos and Tutorials

• Endometriosis (American Society for Reproductive Medicine)

Statistics and Research

• How Many People Are Affected by or at Risk for Endometriosis? (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish
• Researchers Realize Major Breakthrough in Understanding Endometriosis (National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Adenomyosis (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Endometriosis (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Analysis of the relationship between COMT polymorphisms and endometriosis susceptibility.
• Article: Endometriosis.
• Article: A multi-center, randomized controlled clinical trial of the application of...
• Endometriosis -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Female Reproductive System (National Cancer Institute)

Find an Expert

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish
• womenshealth.gov (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• Endometriosis (For Teens) (Nemours Foundation)
• Endometriosis: A Guide for Teens (Children's Hospital Boston)

Patient Handouts

• Endometriosis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Living with endometriosis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish