轻度子宫内膜异位症诊断的研究进展

子宫内膜异位症(endometriosis,EMs)是一种常见的妇科疾病,可导致盆腔疼痛和不孕.轻度EMs(Ⅰ～Ⅱ期)约占EMs的80％,其病灶常为腹膜型/浅表型,常规的超声检查常无阳性发现.患者早期症状和体征隐匿,缺乏可应用于临床的特异性生物标志物,导致大部分轻度EMs患者诊断及治疗延迟,发展成中重度EMs,因此轻度...

Research Progress of the Diagnosis of Minimal/Mild Endometriosis

Endometriosis (EMs) is a common gynecological disease that causes pelvic pain and infertility. Minimal/mild EMs (rAFs stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ) accounts for about 80% of EMs, and its lesions are usually peritoneal or superficial with the negative ultrasound findings. Because minimal/mild EMs lacks specific symptoms, imaging findings and biomarkers, most of them were delayed in the diagnosis and treatment which always lead to the moderate/severe EMs. Therefore, the early diagnosis of minimal/mild EMs is still a great challenge. Laparoscopy combined with pathology is currently the gold standard. However, it is an invasive and costly procedure with potential risks for patients, suggesting that it is not suitable for the screening for early EMs. In recent years, more and more less-invasive methods have been proposed, such as a model combined with clinical symptoms, signs, biomarkers and imaging, which provide a new idea for the early diagnosis of minimal/mild EMs. Although these methods show the promising potential in the diagnosis of minimal/mild EMs, further validation with large sample size and better diagnostic performance is still needed. The combination of clinical signs, pelvic examination and biomarkers may be the solution for the diagnosis of minimal/mild EMs.