The hidden story of endometriosis: Pain, lesions, and the microbiome

If you’ve been diagnosed with endometriosis, the big question is: What type of lesions?

In this episode, Lara challenges long-held assumptions to explore:

• the three types of endometriosis lesions,
• emerging evidence that superficial lesions may not explain pain or other symptoms,
• alternative explanations for pelvic pain and infertility, including pelvic congestion, immune dysfunction, and gut microbiome imbalance, and
• an update on the bacterial contamination hypothesis.

Links:

• Could pelvic congestion syndrome explain your pelvic pain?
• Prevalence of endometriosis in asymptomatic women (1991 study)
• Surgical removal of superficial peritoneal endometriosis for managing women with chronic pelvic pain: time for a rethink? (2019 BJOG article)
• Bacterial contamination hypothesis (2018 paper)
• Fusobacterium infection facilitates the development of endometriosis (2023 paper)
• ANZCA 2024 Statement on pelvic pain and endometriosis