The endometrium is the tissue that lines the inside of the uterine cavity. Endometriosis is a disease state in which some of this tissue has spread elsewhere - such as to the ovaries, or elsewhere in the abdominal cavity.
Endometriosis causes pain in some women and can also cause infertility .
Most of these women are not infertile. The only way to be sure whether a woman has endometriosis is to perform a surgical procedure called laparoscopy that allows us look inside the abdominal cavity with a narrow scope. Sometimes we strongly suspect that the disease is present based on the woman's history of very painful menstrual cycles, painful intercourse, etc., or based on the physical examination of the woman or ultrasound findings. The large majority of cases of endometriosis are mild. Although mild endometriosis is associated with infertility in some women, many fertile women also have mild endometriosis.