Endometriosis: A Chronic Disease

Headway is finally being made towards a better understanding of endometriosis, a chronic and often painful disease that affects at least 10 percent of menstruating people. The French National Authority for Health proposed in January that some women could have access to a new and “promising” saliva test, which would be used for diagnosis and reported to be 95 percent accurate.

According to data from the World Health Organization as well as the French association fighting endometriosis EndoFrance, women living with the disease can currently expect to wait seven years on average before receiving a diagnosis. Endometriosis can present itself in a range of ways, with symptoms often akin to those of other conditions. This contributes to delays in diagnosis. Endometriosis in itself is difficult to diagnose: while a pelvic ultrasound, an MRI or an x-ray examination of the uterus and tubes can help identify endometriosis, only surgical visualization by laparoscopy is so far able to confirm it.

The chronic disease can heavily impact a patient’s quality of life. Symptoms include, but are not limited to: painful periods, chronic fatigue, infertility, digestive and urinary disorders, pelvic and lumbar pain or even dyspareunia (pain during sexual intercourse). An estimated 30-40 percent of women with endometriosis also experience fertility problems and 70 percent suffer from debilitating chronic pain.

There is currently no definitive treatment for endometriosis.

Written by: Valentine Fourreau

Translated by: Anna Fleck