Ghazala Mehmud, Tasneem Akhtar, Shamsunisa Sadia.
Endometriosis: frequency and correlation between symptomatology and disease stage.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;17(4):199-202.

Objective: To determine the frequency of endometriosis in general gynecological and infertile women presenting to hospital and to correlate symptomatology and stage of disease. Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Gynecology Department of Mother and Child Health Center, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, from March 2000 to March 2002. Patients and Methods: Fifty patients with diagnosis of endometriosis on laparoscopy were included in the study. The degree of pain symptoms was graded according to 1-4 point verbal rating scale designed by Biberoglu and Behrman. Endometriosis was staged according to Revised American Fertility Society (R-AFS) scoring on laparoscopy. Correlation coefficient- Spearman rank order correlation test was applied to analyze data. Results: The frequency of endometriosis in infertile women was 24% (33) and in women with general gynecological complaints, it was 23% (17). There was a significant positive correlation between chronic pelvic pain and R-AFS scoring. Increasing severity of pelvic pain was also positively correlated with presence of endometrioma and complete obliteration of pouch of Douglas. No correlation between dysmenorrhoea and R-AFS scoring could be detected. Dysmenorrhoea was strongly and positively correlated with the presence of superficial implants. Dyspareunia was found to have positive correlation with R-AFS score and also with complete obliteration of pouch of Douglas. Conclusion: The frequency of endometriosis in infertile women was 24% (33) and in women with general gynecological complaints, it was 23% (17). Chronic pelvic pain and dyspareunia had strong positive correlation with R-AFS score while dysmenorrhoea had no such correlation.

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