Narrow band imaging for thoracic endometriosis

Area of Science:

• Medical imaging
• Pulmonology
• Gynecology

Background:

• Thoracic endometriosis, often linked to pelvic endometriosis, presents with diverse respiratory symptoms.
• Diagnosing thoracic endometriosis via endoscopy is challenging, despite histology being the gold standard.
• Narrow band imaging (NBI) highlights vascular structures, proving useful for diagnosing pelvic endometriosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of NBI in diagnosing thoracic endometriosis.
• To assess NBI's effectiveness in identifying lesions in patients with suspected thoracic endometriosis.

Main Methods:

• Case presentation of two women with recurrent pneumothorax during menstruation.
• Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) performed with NBI and white light visualization.
• Histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of resected diaphragm tissue.

Main Results:

• NBI enhanced visualization of microvasculature in suspected thoracic endometriosis lesions.
• NBI facilitated clearer identification of affected areas compared to white light alone.
• Histopathology confirmed extrapelvic endometriosis in both patients.

Conclusions:

• NBI may enhance diagnostic accuracy for thoracic endometriosis.
• NBI is particularly beneficial in clinically suspected cases lacking a history of pelvic endometriosis.