A cross-sectional analysis of brain structure, pain behaviors, and mental health in persons with surgically confirmed endometriosis.

Endometriosis is a highly prevalent and often painful gynecological condition that can emerge in adolescence and can be experienced throughout a person's lifetime. This cross-sectional investigation performed structural brain imaging and a battery of psychological and clinical tests on persons from adolescence (lowest age=12) to adulthood (highest age=44) with surgically confirmed endometriosis (SCE; n = 43) and persons never diagnosed with endometriosis and without report of pelvic pain (NDE; n = 26) to understand the impact of endometriosis associated pain on brain health. We observed an interaction wherein cortical thickness in the right superior frontal gyrus was negatively associated with age only in persons with SCE. A comparison of brain volumes demonstrated lower volume in the SCE group in the fusiform gyrus (left hemisphere) and lateral occipital cortex (right hemisphere). More research is required at the level of brain circuitry to understand the impact of endometriosis associated pain on the early and developed brain.