Financing: Internal Funding KU Leuven (KU Leuven)

Project reference Nr.: IOF-HB-D
Start: 2013-01-01
End: 2013-12-31

Description:

Endometriosis, defined as the presence of ectopic endometrium outside the uterus, is associated with chronic intrapelvic inflammation. The gold standard for diagnosis of endometriosis is laparoscopic surgery with histological confirmation (Kennedy et al, 2005). The laparoscopic appearance of endometriosis includes superficial peritoneal lesions, pelvic adhesions, ovarian endometriotic cysts and deeply infiltrative disease, classified (ASRM, 1997) as minimal, mild, moderate and severe disease. Vaginal ultrasound is an adequate diagnostic method to detect ovarian endometriotic cysts and, but does not rule out peritoneal endometriosis or endometriosis-associated adhesions (Moore et al., 2002). Due to the underestimation of pelvic pain symptoms, the need for surgical diagnosis, and the lack of a non-invasive test for endometriosis not detectable by ultrasound, the delay between onset of symptoms and diagnosis can be 8-11 years. The measurement of serum CA-125 levels has no value as a diagnostic tool compared to laparoscopy (Kennedy et al., 2005). At present, neither a single biomarker nor a panel of biomarkers measurable in peripheral blood have been validated as a non-invasive test for endometriosis (May et al., 2010).

SMC people involved in the project:

• Bart De Moor (Co-promoter)
• Etienne Waelkens (Co-promoter)
• Thomas D'Hooghe (Promoter)
• Inge Thijs (Team member)
• Dusan Popovic (Team member)