ABSTRACT
To report 10 cases of rectus abdominis endometrioma, emphasizing the clinical presentations, imaging investigations, cytohistological findings, and surgical treatment employed. This is a descriptive analysis of 10 surgically-proven cases of rectus abdominis muscle endometriosis, seen over a 5-year period from 2007 to 2012 at Sohag University Hospital, Sohag, Egypt and Najran Armed Forces Hospital, Najran, Saudia Arabia. All patients had undergone ultrasonography. Computerized tomography [CT] and magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] were performed in some cases. Surgical excision was the way of treatment in all patients. This study was carried out in 10 women with a mean age of 33.9 years. Nine cases had previous history of cesarean section [CS] while one patient had laparoscopy converted to laparotomy for ovarian cyst. All patients were presented with abdominal pain but only 3 had a palpable mass. Ten lesions within the rectus abdominis muscle were detected with automated ultrasound and MRI depicted one lesion, which was missed by ultrasound in a patient who had 2 concomitant lesions. Preoperative fine needle aspiration [FNA] was carried out in 2 patients. Wide surgical excision was performed in all cases. Histopathology was confirmatory in each instance. No complications or recurrence were recorded on follow-up [6-24 months; mean 13.2 months]. This disease is not as rare as previously thought, and should be included in the differential diagnosis of abdominal wall masses in reproductive-age females