What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is the name given to the condition where the endometrium settles in other tissues. It is usually found in the ovaries, uterine canal, intestines, urinary bladder, inner lining of the abdomen, vagina or belly. It is seen in 10% of women of reproductive age. There is no clear finding as to why it occurs. Symptoms include painful menstruation, painful sexual intercourse, abdominal pain before menstruation, back pain, and pain during bowel movements.
When is endometriosis treated?
Endometriosis treatment is usually applied to relieve pain and enable pregnancy. The treatment of endometriosis has changed a lot over the years. Today, doctors agree that if the symptoms are mild, they treat them with medication only to relieve the pain. Some patients with mild or minimal endometriosis may also want to have a baby. In such cases, doctors may offer unprotected sexual intercourse as a treatment option (for a period of 6 months to 1 year), depending on the patient's age and the severity of the pain caused by endometriosis. If the expected pregnancy does not occur within this period, another treatment may be needed.
For patients with Endometriosis who have been diagnosed with laparoscopy and are undergoing treatment with additional methods and do not want to get pregnant, hormone suppression therapy can be used. Since hormone suppression therapy prevents ovulation, the possibility of pregnancy is eliminated in women undergoing treatment. Hormone therapy includes Danazol and GnRH. If we look at their contents;
Danazol is a weak male hormone.
GnRH (gonadotrope) contains a substance (releasing hormone) that stimulates the work of the seed-producing glands (such as the ovaries and testes).
In cases where endometriosis is large in size or in people who want more fertility, surgical interventions can be performed to directly remove the diseased tissue. Endometriosis can be removed without damaging healthy tissue with the laparotomy method, which is performed in a hospital environment and under general anesthesia. In this way, surgical interventions that offer the opportunity to benefit from laparoscopy and are preferred over open abdominal surgeries are widely used today.
In some cases of endometriosis, patients may also undergo more radical surgery. The ovaries may have been severely damaged due to untreated endometriosis. In this case, hysterectomy surgery may be performed to remove the uterus or the ovaries.
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