Endometriosis is a chronic, recurring disease, often associated with infertility.
It can affect women at any stage in their lives, but is most common in the reproductive years. Despite high incidence figures, the causes of endometriosis are still open to debate. In addition to uncertainty over pathogenesis of the disease, endometriosis is often misdiagnosed leading to delays in treatment, sometimes for several years. Such delay may result in disease progression, lack of symptom control and increasing incidence of infertility. Symptoms of endometriosis have been confused with conditions such as pelvic inflammatory disease, irritable bowel syndrome or even psychosomatic problems.