[Clinico-morphological characteristics of retrocervical endometriosis]

Clinico-morphologic parameters are described in 18 patients of reproductive age before and after hormonal treatment. There was no clear-cut correlation between morphofunctional endometrial state and endometrioid heterotopies. It did not seem possible to identify the phase of the cycle on the basis of the structural pattern of retrocervical endometriosis. Electron microscopic findings in endometriosis sites were suggestive of considerable variability of epithelial cell activity in different glands as well as within the same gland. Post-treatment structural pattern of retrocervical endometriosis does not exclude the possibility that steroids only block cyclic changes in the functional glandular epithelium, having no effect on nonactive cell elements. In spite of dystrophic changes, present in many retrocervical endometriosis sites, hormonal treatment did not eliminate endometrioid heterotopies, but only relieved pain.