Endometriosis is a disease characterized by the presence of endometrial tissue (uterine lining) outside of its normal location, usually in the fallopian tubes, ovaries or pelvic tissues. In this case, the tissue lining the uterus (the endometrium) will grow and will reach other regions outside the uterus.
Endometriosis affects mainly women aged between 25 and 40 years and is one of the most common causes of infertility (30 -40% of patients with endometriosis are sterile).
Normally, under the influence of hormones, the endometrium prepares for a possible pregnancy, it grows to a thick, blood vessel-rich, glandular tissue layer. If pregnancy does not install, the endometrium disintegrates and it is removed through the vagina each month during menstruation. But in endometriosis, endometrium can not be removed from the uterus. Tissues are loose and still bleeding but not eliminated from the body, resulting in internal bleeding, inflammation of the affected area, causing painful cysts and lesions of the pelvic and reproductive organs, pain, or new scars. In addition it leeds to clusters of uneliminated tissue and by their location, the normal functions of certain organs may be affected (eg, bladder function, bowel or other organs in the pelvic cavity). In very rare cases, endometriosis can be detected in the skin, lung, the diaphragm or brain.
This abnormal increased tissue is developing in swellings or in lesions which respond to the menstrual cicle just like normal tissue lining the uterus: it strengthens, it breaks and starts to bleed. Blood flows from the uterus to the vagina draining thus out of the body but the blood and tissue from the endometrial swelling does not drain from the body. As a result there will be internal bleeding, breakdown of blood and tissue injury and inflammation, which can cause pain, infertility, healed tissue formation and intestinal problems.
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