Endometriosis Does Not Simply “Grow Back.”
There is a lot to be said about this! Many websites and even OBGYNs will tell their patients that their Endometriosis will inevitably grow back and that they will need repeated surgeries, and this is considered recurrence.
The problem with this is that we know that if Endometriosis is entirely and intricately cut out (excised), it is much less likely to return. More often than not it is persistence (it persists because it was not completely cut out) This happens because it was inadequately treated – either ablated (typically burnt) or not completely excised (tissue around the lesion was left behind, it wasn’t cut out deep enough, etc.) Like a cancerous tumor, every single bit of each area with Endometriosis must be excised. You may have heard about wide excision- this is the practice of removing a wide margin around where Endometriosis is seen. This increases the likelihood that all of the Endometriosis was removed, especially because some Endometriosis is difficult to see. Some of the best surgeons don’t practice this because they don’t want to remove or damage the tissue that may appear to be healthy. I think that is a conversation that should be had between patient and surgeon. I personally wanted as much tissue removed as possible. So, where are the statistics on this, and how do we know recurrence is unlikely in the event of thorough excision? We are somewhat limited because of the nature of that type of study (surgeon skill, multiple surgeries, patients willing to undergo multiple surgeries at different time intervals – you get the idea). But we do have good data – good meaning quality over quantity, and obviously more is needed. Yeung et al. did a five-year follow-up from true complete excision “At surgery, histologic analysis confirmed Endometriosis in 17 of the 20 (85%) patients. …During follow-up of up to 66 months (average, 23.1 months), 8 of 17 (47%) patients underwent a subsequent laparoscopy for persistent recurrent pain. None of these patients had Endometriosis diagnosed visually or histologically. Half of the girls had adhesions.”
WE KNOW PAIN RELIEF IS NOT 100% FOR EVERYONE.
Sources:
1.) ๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐จ๐๐ง๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ค๐จ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ค๐จ๐๐จ ๐๐ฎ ๐จ๐๐๐ง๐ฅ ๐๐๐จ๐จ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ: ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐จ๐๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐ง๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ค๐ง ๐ง๐๐๐ช๐ง๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐๐จ๐๐๐จ๐. ๐ฟ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฝ. ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐, ๐.๐ฟ.
2. ๐๐๐พ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐พ๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐พ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฝ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฟ ๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ฝ๐ง๐ค๐ช๐ฌ๐๐ง ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐๐ฎ ๐ . ๐๐ค๐ค๐๐จ
3. ๐พ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ค๐จ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ค๐จ๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ง๐จ: ๐๐จ ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ง๐ฎ? ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ ๐ค๐ง๐๐ก ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ผ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฃ๐๐๐ค๐ก๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ค๐จ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐จ (๐ผ๐ผ๐๐) ๐ผ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ช๐๐ก ๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐, ๐๐๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐จ, ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐, ๐๐ค๐ซ๐๐ข๐๐๐ง 8-12, 2010; ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ค๐จ๐๐ช๐ข ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ค๐จ๐๐จ ๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ 24-26, 2011. ๐๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ง .๐.๐ฟ. ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐ซ๐ค ๐.๐ฟ. ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง ๐.๐. ๐๐ค๐๐๐ง๐ฉ ๐ฝ.๐ผ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐ง. ๐.๐ฟ.