[Association between ovarian endometrioma and deep infiltrating endometriosis]

To evaluate the association between ovarian endometrioma and the presence of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) lesions in a sample of women of the South of Brazil.

A retrospective study was conducted in all women undergoing surgical treatment of endometriosis from January 2010 to June 2012. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the presence or not of ovarian endometrioma. Patients presenting an ovarian endometrioma were subsequently divided into 2 groups according to the diameter of the endometrioma (<40 and ≥40 mm). The following parameters were compared between the groups: cancer antigen (CA) 125 level, size of the endometrioma, presence and number of deep lesions. The statistical analysis was performed with Statistica version 8.0 using Fisher's exact test, Student's t-test and Mann-Whitney test, when needed. The p values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant.

During the study period, a total of 201 women underwent laparoscopic surgical treatment of endometriosis. Fifty-five patients (27.9%) presented ovarian endometrioma and 180 patients (89.5%) presented DIE confirmed by pathologic examination. Women presenting an ovarian endometrioma had higher CA 125 levels (39.5 versus 24.1 U/mL; p<0.01) and stronger association with the presence of DIE lesions (98.2 versus 86.2%; p=0.01) and intestinal DIE (57.1 versus 37.9%; p=0.01). There was no difference between the groups with endometriomas <40 and ≥40 mm.

Ovarian endometrioma is a marker for the presence of DIE lesions, including intestinal DIE.