Are endometrial nerve fibres unique to endometriosis? A prospective case control study of endometrial biopsy as a diagnostic test for endometriosis in women with pelvic pain.

Is endometrial biopsy and nerve fibre staining able to predict which patients will have endometriosis in a sample of women with pelvic pain undergoing laparoscopy at Mercy Hospital for Women?

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12615000001594

Enrollment

Registered

2015-01-06

Start date

2009-10-26

Completion date

2013-06-06

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

There is currently no non invasive way to diagnose endometriosis. The gold standard is laparoscopy plus directed biopsy. Previous studies have suggested that endometrial nerve fibre detection may function as a less invasive outpatient test of endometriosis. This work suggested that if fine nerve fibres (C type unmyelinated) are present in the functional layer of the endometrium then the patient has endometriosis and if the fibres are not present the patient does not have endometriosis. We wish to recruit women with pelvic pain as we wonder if the nerve fibres relate to the painful condition rather than to endometriosis. We will perform endometrial nerve fibre detection in 20 women with pain and no endometriosis and 20 women with pain who have endometriosis. Our hypothesis is that fine nerve fibres will be found in the functional layer of the endometrium in women both with and without endometriosis who also have pelvic pain. Thus endometrial nerve fibre detection is not a useful way to diagnose endometriosis.

Interventions

Participants will be women of reproductive age who are already scheduled to undergo laparoscopy and endometrial biopsy as part of the investigation of their pain. We will take two endometrial biopsies (curettings + endometrial biopsy with endosampler) and do immunostaining with PGP9.5, we will look for the presence of fine nerve fibres in the endometrium in all participants. Both specimens will be taken on a single occaison during the scheduled laparoscopy.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to 45 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Woman booked for laparoscopy and endometrial biopsy at the Mercy Hospital for women. not taking any exogenous hormone preparations, and who has a VAS (visual analog score) of at least 3/10 for dysmenorrhoea (pain with periods) and/or pelvic pain (acyclic pelvic pain) and/or dyspareunia (pain with sexual intercourse)

Exclusion criteria

Woman unhappy to have two endometrial biopsies taken (curettings plus endometrial biopsy with endosamppler), woman taking exogenous hormones, a woman booked for laparoscopy who does not have any pain.

Outcome results