We're talking today with Dr. Camran Nezhat. Dr. Nezhat is Clinical Professor of Surgery and Gynecology at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Endoscopy Center. Today we'd like to discuss endometriosis. It seems that in some families there could be a genetic link, and it could also be due to other things like environmental factors, dioxins, and autoimmune problems. All of that, to some degree, could be involved, so we don't know the exact cause of endometriosis, but a genetic factor is one of the factors.
Endometriosis can affect different organs.
For example, it can involve the bowel, and when it involves the bowel, it can cause pain with bowel movements, constipation, diarrhea, or a significant amount of rectal bleeding. At the same time, endometriosis can involve the bladder or the ureter, and in that case, the woman has pain and also blood in her urine around the time of her menstruation. In the case of involvement with the ureter, if the endometriosis is very severe, the woman could lose a kidney because of the obstruction of the ureter and its involvement with endometriosis. For example, in the case that we are reporting, a woman had a history of extensive endometriosis involving her ovaries, bowel, bladder, and one of the ureters. One ureter was significantly more involved than the other one, and in this case, the involvement of the left ureter was almost completely obstructed and the amount of endometriosis was significant enough that it required removal of a good portion of the ureter, and of course, repairing it.