Laparoscopy as a diagnostic aid in women with localized ureteral obstruction due to endometriosis

Endometriosis is a common disease which can produce localized ureteral obstruction. Many women will have significant disease without any clinical signs or symptoms until they present with distal ureteral obstruction. In the reported literature, the diagnosis of ureteral involvement by endometriosis usually has been made at surgery. It is therefore suggested that women with distal ureteral obstruction not attributable to calculous disease undergo laparoscopy in an attempt to rule out endometriosis as the cause of ureteral obstruction.