Coincidence of uterine malformations and endometriosis: a clinically relevant problem?

INTRODUCTION It is suspected that uterine malformations and endometriosis have a high coincidence. Furthermore, it is expected that obstructive uterine malformations are significantly higher affected than non-obstructive malformations. The correlation between endometriosis and uterine malformations may be due to increased retrograde menstruation, which would explain a higher coincidence of obstructive malformations and endometriosis [14]. METHODS This retrospective study investigates whether patients with uterine malformations have a higher prevalence of endometriosis. The study includes patients with uterine malformations who were admitted to our hospital in the period from 01.12.2014 to 30.11.2019. RESULTS 279 cases were analysed. 263 (94.2%) patients had a non-obstructive uterine malformation, 12 (4.3%) patients had an obstructive uterine malformation and 4 (1.4%) patients had uterine agenesia/hypoplasia. 209 (74.9%) patients had histologically confirmed endometriosis (peritoneal, ovarian or deep infiltrating) and 70 (25.1%) had no endometriosis. In 27 cases, deep infiltrating endometriosis (ENZIAN ABC) was detected additionally to peritoneal and ovarian endometriosis. CONCLUSION The study shows a high prevalence of endometriosis in women with uterine malformations. For this reason, endometriosis should always be specifically sought in uterine malformations.