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A recent review has surveyed our knowledge of endometriosis - a painful condition commonly associated with infertility. It finds that women with endometriosis have higher risk of cancers in the pelvis, especially the ovary. Up to one in ten women have a painful condition called endometriosis, where lining tissue from the uterus has escaped and landed on organs like the ovaries and sometimes even far away places like the heart. It's commonly associated with infertility and in fact endometriosis can be found in up to half of women having trouble falling pregnant. No-one knows what causes it and there aren't many effective treatments. A recent review has surveyed the available knowledge on endometriosis. It runs in families with a six times higher risk in first degree relatives and a few genes have been implicated. Dioxin exposure has also been blamed but the evidence is weak. The immune system is involved either as a cause or in the body's reaction and this may be a clue to new treatments - perhaps some anti-diabetes medications which also have an immune effect. Another possibility is to influence female hormone metabolism in better ways. One worrying thing though is that women with endometriosis are at higher risk of cancers in the pelvis, especially the ovary and, perhaps, cancers elsewhere as well. So the diagnosis should be a red flag to GPs to monitor these women carefully.
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