Serum and peritoneal fluid levels of vascular endothelial growth factor in women with endometriosis

Endometriosis is known as one of the most common disease in women of reproductive age. Due to important role of vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF] in neo-vascularization for the implantation of endometrial cell, and also presence of different studies reported VEGF level in the serum and peritoneal fluid [PF] in endometriosis patients, this study was designed to determine the serum and PF levels of VEGF in endometriosis patients, and to compare with normal subjects. In this descriptive study, 179 women subjected to laparoscopy for the evaluation of infertility or pelvic pain were allocated into the following two groups: group I: different types of endometriosis patients [n=90] and group II: non-endometriosis patients [n=89]. The PF from pelvis and venous blood samples were obtained. The VEGF concentration of the serum and PF were measured using enzyme immunoassay kit and were compared using t test. The level of VEGF in serum was significantly less than that in PF in both groups [p=0.00]. However, endometriosis patients had significantly higher level of VEGF in peritoneal fluid than non-endometriosis patients [p=0.043]. According to our findings, endometriosis is not associated with change in the level of circulating VEGF

C-reactive protein of serum and peritoneal fluid in endometriosis

Endometriosis is defined as the existence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus. Diagnosis of endometriosis is a challenging theme. Despite the broad search for innovative laboratory tests and advances in imaging technologies, there are still no easy, non-invasive diagnostic tests available. Due to inflammatory process of endometriosis, still C-reactive protein [CRP] level may be the target of initial screening. The aim of this study was to investigate CRP levels as a marker of inflammatory process in serum and peritoneal fluid of patients with endometriosis. In a case control study, 179 patients with endometriosis [N = 90] and without endometriosis [N = 89] were evaluated. The venous blood samples were obtained from all patients before laparoscopy and the peritoneal fluid samples were collected from pelvis before any manipulation. Student's t-test was applied to compare the parameters between two groups. There was no significant difference between the CRP serum level in patients with endometriosis and infertile women without endometriosis. There was a significant difference in peritoneal level of CRP between case and control groups [p < 0.05]. The findings suggested that measurement of this marker in patients' serum or plasma cannot be used to diagnose endometriosis. It is further recommended that a combination of different markers might be helpful in this regard that could be studied in future