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Introduction: Endometriosis is a chronic oestrogen-dependent disease that affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age. Half of these women have deep dyspareunia. The presence of this symptom has been shown to negatively affect your quality of life. There are few studies in the literature that address this issue and its pathophysiology remains poorly understood. Materials and methods: A case-control study has been carried out in order to assess the multi-causality of dyspareunia in patients with endometriosis. All the patients were assessed in a unit specialising in endometriosis and pelvic pain and their disease was staged using high-resolution ultrasound following the criteria of the IDEA group. The patients were divided into two groups, patients with dyspareunia n = 45 (cases) and those without it n = 55 (controls). Results: The only element that was statistically significant in explaining the dyspareunia was the presence of nodules in the retrocervical region with p = 0.000. The odds ratio of dyspareunia in the cases group was 5.3 (95 % CI 2.2-12.5). Conclusions: Dyspareunia in patients with endometriosis is strongly dependent on the presence of nodules in the retrocervical region, although there are other factors involved that remain unknown, so more studies are still needed to understand and optimally address this symptom.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE. Serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (STIC) is currently considered the precursor lesion of pelvic (i.e., ovarian or peritoneal) high-grade serous carcinoma. The incidence of STIC has been reported to range from 0.6% to 7% in BRCA mutations carriers. However, the clinical outcome of patients with 'isolated' STIC remains elusive. The aim of this study is to review the published literature on isolated STIC to determine outcomes of these ients and present a summary of management strategies. METHODS. A systematic English-language literature search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE-Ovid, Scopus, EBSCO host, Cochrane Library of articles published from February 2006 to April 2015. Study inclusion criteria for review were the following: risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO), BRCA mutation carriers, non-BRCA mutation carriers, and benign surgical indication. Exclusion criteria were as follows: the presence of synchronous gynecological cancers, concurrent non-gynecological malignancies, the presence of ovarian intraepithelial lesions, and articles that did not include any clinical information and were restricted to pathology information only. RESULTS. A total of 78 patients with isolated STIC were included in our analysis. The median age for all patients was 53.7 years (range; 37-83). Surgical indication was RRSO in 67 patients with BRCA mutations or high-risk personal or family history. In the other 11 patients, an incidental STIC was detected after surgery for non-cancerous indications. Eleven (16.4%) patients received chemotherapy after the diagnosis of STIC. The follow-up time ranged from 2 to 150 months. Three (4.5%) patients with BRCA mutations were diagnosed with primary peritoneal carcinoma (PPC) during the follow-up at 43, 48 and 72 months after RRSO. CONCLUSIONS. The rate of primary peritoneal carcinoma in patients with BRCA mutations and isolated STIC is 4.5%. The role of adjuvant therapy remains elusive and routine surveillance with tumor markers and imaging is not warranted.
