ABSTRACT
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory gynecological disease affecting 190 million women
or 10% of women of reproductive age worldwide. The disease is marked by the presence of
endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus, being associated in many cases with chronic pain
and infertility. The current recommendations of international professional societies underline
the need for laparoscopy, eventually followed by histological verification, as the gold standard
for diagnosis. However, many societies recommend the initiation of specific treatment before obtaining a definitive surgical diagnosis. Various national and international societies have
released guidelines for endometriosis assessment based on biomarkers; however, none of
these recommendations proved to be clinically useful or able to replace diagnostic laparoscopy. In recent years it was demonstrated that oxidative stress, defined as an imbalance between
reactive oxygen species and antioxidants that is directly linked with an increased inflammatory
response in the peritoneal cavity, may be involved in the pathophysiology of endometriosis.
The identification of a genetic predisposition for endometriosis can identify the patients at risk
and may help clinicians promptly initiate therapeutic management of their patients in order to
ameliorate their prognosis.
Keywords: endometriosis, laparoscopy, biomarkers, oxidative stress