Background
To study the possible association between endometriosis and ovarian varices. These
diseases manifest with similar symptomatologies and the hormone estradiol is implicated
in both.
Methods
The sample consisted of 48 female patients between the ages of 18 and 50 years old.
There were 25 patients who had been diagnosed with endometriosis. Fifteen had been
confirmed by surgery and histopathology, and 10 by nuclear magnetic resonance. There
were also 23 patients without endometriosis who were considered to be the control
group. The diagnosis of ovarian varicose veins were made through ultrasound system
with endovaginal transducer of 4 to 8 MHz. This study was conducted from May 2013
to September 2014. The researchers attempted to identify the anechoic, circular, linear,
and non-pulsatile structures in the broad ligament of the uterus. Varices with dilation
of equal to or greater than 5 mm in the longitudinal cut, with tortuous veins with
reflux in the adnexal region.
Results
The prevalence of ovarian varices in patients with endometriosis was 80%, whereas
the control group was only 26.1%. The elevated percentage of ovarian varices in patients
with endometriosis is highly significant, with a difference of 53.9% and 95% confidence
interval of 30%–78%. The criterion for the determination of significance that we adopted
was the level of 5%. The statistical analysis was processed using the statistical
software SAS system, version 6.11 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, North Carolina).
Conclusions
Our results suggest that ovarian varices may play a very important role in the physiopathology
of endometriosis. Ovarian varices may evolve with oxidative stress in the function
of the ovary, provoking an imbalance in its genetic, hormonal, and immunologic aspects
and provoking the chronic inflammatory process particular to endometriosis.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: May 11, 2016
Accepted:
December 10,
2015
Received:
September 4,
2015
Footnotes
Research performed by Kennedy G. Pacheco & Maria Raquel Fortes de Oliveira in the Medical Gynaecological Offices of the University Hospital of the State University of Rio de Janeiro.
Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Disclosure: This article resulted from research performed at the Pedro Ernesto University Hospital (UERJ-Brasil) with the purpose of obtaining a master's degree at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The abstract of this study will be presented during the poster session at the SEOUL UIP 2015.
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