[Place of exploratory laparoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pelvic pain].

OBJECTIVES

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) accounts for 15 to 40 % of exploratory laparoscopies. An exploratory laparoscopy was performed to exclude the presence of peritoneal endometriosis in patients experiencing significant impairment of their quality of life.

METHODS

This retrospective observational study was carried out in a tertiary referral center for endometriosis. Forty-six patients with CPP, including a non contributive clinical examination and additional investigations, underwent exploratory laparoscopy. They were divided into three subgroups : patients with a history of endometriosis (group 1), those with another non-gynecological concomitant etiology of CPP (group 2) and those without any primary etiological diagnosis (group 3). We report the observed endometriosis lesions, surgical techniques applied and histopathological results.

RESULTS

Exploratory laparoscopy revealed endometriosis lesions in 93.5 % of cases. Endometriosis lesions were found in 85 % of cases in group 1 (n = 20), 100 % in group 2 (n = 6) and 80 % in group 3 (n = 20).

CONCLUSION

Exploratory laparoscopy maintains a fundamental role in the diagnosis of patients with CPP, enabling simultaneous visualization and surgical treatment of endometriosis lesions.