Prevalence of congenital uterine abnormalities and endometriosis

Largest study on congenital uterine abnormalities in endometriosis patients

Key Points

Highlights:

• Congenital uterine abnormalities has long been a debated subject in relation to endometriosis development.

Importance:

• As the most quoted pathogenetic theory of endometriosis, “retrograde menstruation” might be the main cause in cases of obstructive congenital uterine abnormalities.

What's done here:

• This is a retrospective single-center observational study from a tertiary Swiss among 1566 histologically proven andometriosis patients searching for congenital uterine abnormalities.

Main key features:

• Though congenital uterine abnormalities are not increased in endometriosis patients, endometriosis and dysmenorrhea seem to be more severe in women with such features.

Strentgh of the study:

• This is the largest endometriosis population that was evaluated for mutual existence of congenital uterine abnormalities among biopsy proven endometriosis patients. 

Lay Summary

A Swiss research group from Schaffhausen and Zurich conducted a retrospective prevalance study of congenital uterine anomalies among endometriosis patients. The final manuscript has appeared in a recent issue of the medical journal JMIG.

Endometriosis being an estrogen-dependent inflammatory disorder affects millions of women worldwide. The most popular pathogenetic theory of “retrograde mensturation” raises a question on the importance of obstructive congenital uterine abnormalities among this gynecologic patient group.

A group of researchers from Switzerland have recently published a retrospective single-center observational study regarding congenital uterine abnormalities among endometriosis patients. Congenital uterine abnormalities were assessed by searching a tertiary hospital database for five year period that yielded 1566 histologically proven andometriosis patients,

Of  the biopsy proven1566 women with endometriosis, 93 (5.9%) had congenital uterine abnormalities. Arcuate uterus, (41/93, 44.1%), and partial septate uterus (19/93, 20.4%) were the most frequent abnormalities.

This is the largest endometriosis population investigating the mutual existence of congenital uterine abnormalities and biopsy proven endometriosis patients. The second largest study in this subject had 900 women with endometriosis.

These findings suggest that congenital uterine abnormalities among endometriosis petients do not seem to be more prevalent than general population.

Women with such congenital pathologies are more likely to have severe dysmenorrhea, and also more severe forms of endometriosis in regard to the revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine staging.

Research Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39756611/