Minimally Invasive Surgical Treatment for Endometriosis

If you have severe pain from endometriosis, your health care provider may suggest surgery. At surgery, your health care provider can locate any endometriosis and see the size and degree of growth; he or she also may remove the endometriosis at that time. You and your health care provider should talk about possible options for removing endometriosis before your surgery.

Laparoscopy

is a way to diagnose and treat endometriosis without making large cuts in the abdomen.

• Laparoscopy involves a small cut in the abdomen, inflating the abdomen with a harmless gas, and then passing a viewing instrument with a light (called a laparoscope) into the abdomen. The surgeon uses the laparoscope to see the growths.

• To treat the endometriosis, the doctor can then remove the areas, a process called excising, or destroy them with intense heat and seal the blood vessels without stitches, a process called cauterizing, or vaporizing. The goal is to treat the endometriosis without harming the healthy tissue around it.

• If your surgeon is going to treat the endometriosis during your laparoscopy, he or she must make at least two more cuts in your lower abdomen, to pass lasers or other small surgical instruments into your abdomen to remove or vaporize the tissue.

Doctors don’t know the exact role of scar tissue in causing endometriosis pain, but some will remove the scar tissue in case it is causing the pain.Usually, laparoscopy does not require an overnight stay in the hospital. Recovery from laparoscopy is much faster than for major surgery, like laparotomy.

This excerpt was taken from the National Institutes of Health.

This information is provided for your information. It is not medical advice and should not be relied upon as a substitute for visiting your doctor. If you need medical care, or have any questions, please contact your obstetrician-gynecologist.