ORIGINAL ARTICLE  ENDOMETRIOSIS: STILL A PROBLEM? 

Minerva Ginecologica 2017 October;69(5):440-6

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4784.17.04031-X

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Abdominal wall endometriosis following cesarean section: a study of the growth rate of parietal endometriosis implants

Salma TOULEIMAT ¹, Basma DARWISH ¹, Maud VASSILIEFF ¹, Emanuela STOCHINO LOI ², Clotilde HENNETIER ¹, Horace ROMAN ^{1, 3} ✉

¹ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen, France; ² Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliary, Italy; ³ Research Group 4308, Spermatogenesis and Gamete Quality, IHU Rouen Normandy, IFRMP23, Reproductive Biology Laboratory, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen, France

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to estimate the growth rate of abdominal wall endometriosis (AWE) following cesarean section (CS), in order to potentially identify a growth model of endometriosis in vivo.
METHODS: This monocentric, retrospective study included 23 patients presenting 26 nodules of post-CS AWE treated by surgical excision. Nodule surface and volume, time-lapse between surgery and AWE as well as the contraception used were noted. A comparison between nodules’ features was performed depending on hormonal vs. non-hormonal contraception.
RESULTS: The time-lapse between CS and AWE surgery had a mean value of 48 months. The mean surface of an AWE nodule was of 3.83 cm2, and the mean volume was of 5.32 cm3. Comparison between the main surface and volume in patients receiving hormonal vs. non-hormonal contraception was statistically non-significant. No statistically significant correlation between AWE dimension and time was revealed. In patients presenting more than one lesion, nodules appeared to grow following variable patterns.
CONCLUSIONS: AWE natural history was characterized by inter- and intra-individual variability, independently of the method of contraception used.

KEY WORDS: Endometriosis - Cesarean section - Abdominal wall